


The Other Riders

by ArchLichCovenant



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game), InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Black RX, Star vs. The Forces Of Evil, 龍が如く | Ryuu ga Gotoku | Yakuza (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/M, Multiple Crossovers, Potential Spoilers, Romance?, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-07 12:55:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17366249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArchLichCovenant/pseuds/ArchLichCovenant
Summary: Two of the most powerful transformation drivers ever made have just been found, five hundred years and an ocean apart. They then proceed to take their users on one wild ride.A story written for fun, with absolutely no care for canon. Or sanity.Expect additional tags as the story goes on.





	1. One of a Set

“In this workshop I forged the ideas that would become every single transformation driver to ever be used by a rider, as well as crafted a few drivers myself. My masterpieces: the Anomaly Driver and the Absol Driver, were deemed too dangerous to be let loose and were sealed within my vault. Yet it seems like all things they wished to be free, and they appeared to vanish of their own volition. Wherever they have arrived, I do so hope they are found by those worthy. If either one were to wind up in the wrong hands, well… at least it will be entertaining.”

\-------------  
Princess Star Butterfly was always prone to impulsiveness and poor decision making, something that might have been endearing in the eyes of young Marco Diaz if it did not land him in a multitude of deadly situations on such a regular basis. Today, at Star’s whim, the two of them arrived in a strange, foggy dimension in search of something called the “Charm of Stars”, and are now fleeing for their lives from what honestly appeared to be horror movie slashers. 

“Star” Marco whisper screamed from behind the small, broken wall he was currently ducking behind “Are you there?” he chanced a peak out from the side. What he saw was Star waving at him and drawing her dimensional scissors. Marco nodded and prepared to make a mad dash for it, but his hopes were crushed when the scissors didn’t work. Star began frantically waving her scissors in a desperate attempt to open a portal, but to no avail. Marco could feel his heart sink, this was it. Star had finally gotten them killed and he still never managed to ask Jackie out. “Damnit” Marco cursed under his breath. He couldn’t die here, but as soon as he attempted to make a move towards Star the sound of tinkling bells rung out behind him.

Marco dived forward just barely evading the swipe of a pick made from a spine and a skull. He looked over his shoulder at the disturbing creature and its glowing eyes. Star readied her wand, only to have it knocked from her hands by a thrown hatchet. A rabbit masked woman walked swiftly through the fog towards the princess, swinging its broadaxe overhead. Marco smashed into the Huntress’s side a full speed, knocking her off balance but not accomplishing much more than that. Seizing the opportunity Star went for her wand but was cut off by the pick-wielding Wraith. Marco was busy evading his opponent to the best of his abilities, only to be distracted by Star’s scream. Instinctively looking for he princess, Marco was knocked in the side by the blunt end of the axe which sent him sprawling. Quickly he scrambled away and into cover. He could hear Star struggling as the Wraith carried her off, but the more concerning sound was the Huntress humming a nursery rhyme of some sort.

Marco was breathing heavy, rushing from one hiding spot to another all while trying to see where the Wraith was carrying Star. He couldn’t leave her to die, even if this whole mess was her fault. He soon found himself at the entrance to a ruined building with the telltale humming right behind him. He slipped into the dark building, the interior just as foggy as outside. Marco methodically made his way through the building while attempting to devise a rescue plan. Of course then they would have to find a way out of this dimension. Marco was in deep thought, doing his best to ignore the now echoing humming. His train of thought was derailed when he was blinded by a flash of light. Shielding his eyes he could see it, a small twinkling eight pointed star embedded in the wall. 

\-------------  
“Look!” Star excitedly pointed to a sketch of a star in her spellbook “It’s called the ‘Charm of Stars’, it says it fell from the sky and was found by Solaria Butterfly but that she lost it during the war with monsters.”

“Okay, and?” Marco knew where is was going, he could see Star bouncing with enthusiasm. All he could do was hope that this would be brief, it was a school night after all.

“It’s supposedly a powerful magic artefact, although apparently no one figured out how to use it…” Star glowered at the book for a moment “But it does say it was thrown through a portal on the far side of Hekapoo’s dimension.”

“Wait, if no one figured out what it does, how do they know it’s powerful? And why do you want it?”

“I dunno” Star shrugged “But it’s called the ‘Charm of Stars’ so obviously it was meant for me!”

\-------------  
Marco knew better than to mess with magic, but given is current circumstances he figured it couldn’t make things much worse. Marco reached out and grasped the edges of the object, attempting to pry it from its resting place. A hatchet stuck itself in the wall next to his head and he decided to not look and just try to extract the artefact. With one last tug he managed to remove it, with enough force for him to fall back on his rear just in time to evade a horizontal axe swing. He looked up at the Huntress which stood over him. Marco smiled and then quickly scrambled away on the ground.

Marco looked down at the glowing object grasped in his hand “Come on, do something. I need to save Star!” He knew the huntress was close behind, it was now or never. Something needed to happen. He found a small closet he ducked into, closing the door behind him. He sat there in terror as her humming got closer and closer. He closed his hand tight around the charm and pleaded “Please give me something. Help me. I need to save her.”

A clunk was heard as a belt formed around Marco’s waist. A chrome skull buckle with a woven black band covered in metal studs. He reached down a grasped it instinctively, confused as to where it came from. The charm maybe? He didn’t have long to think about it as the door of his hiding place was swung open. Marco did the one thing he thought he could and jumped to his feet, attempting to knock the Huntress off balance. The moment he let go of the buckle, its jaw popped open revealing a red fan. Then, it began to spin.

Marco found himself caught in a whirlwind of colour and light, and felt his body change. When it was over he stood over six feet tall. He had a black, fibrous undersuit. It looked almost as if it was exposed muscle dyed black. His feet were covered in a dark, almost burnt red exoskeleton and had seven toes with ended in sharp claws. The exoskeleton extended up to just past his knees, there were silver spurs around his ankles and two silver bands wrapped around each thigh with a dark red leather pouch attached to the bands on his right leg. The studs on his belt had extended into spikes, and an exoskeleton spine ran from the small of his back up to the base of his skull. Exoskeletal armouring covered his upper chest and connected back around to the spine with rib like parts. In the center of his chest sat an oval full of purple liquid which was surrounded by eight notches spread evenly across his chest. His forearms were also covered in exoskeleton and his fingers, which still numbered five per hand, ended in long claws. Silver bracelets sat on his wrists, separating the exoskeleton on his forearm from that on his hand. A silver plate covered his mouth and exoskeleton covered the rest of his head with two large purple compound eyes and silver insectoid antennae decorating it.

To say Marco was surprised would be putting it lightly, and thankfully for him his opponent was just as caught off guard as he was. The charm was gone from his hand but he could sense it in the pouch on his leg. He was still looking over himself when the Huntress regained her senses and struck him with her axe. It hurt, but not as much as he expected as it sparked off his armour. It was sufficient to bring the young man back to reality, and he struck his foe with a hard right straight. The punch sent the Huntress into the opposite wall with a resounding thud. He rushed forward, not risking giving her a chance to recover and attempted to deliver a turning kick directly into her chest. She managed to dip out of the way and put some room in between them. She threw one of her hatchets, which bounced off of Marco’s form with a “dink”.

Marco reached into his leather pouch to retrieve the star charm, and suddenly became aware of many, many more held within. All of them begging to be used. Still he retrieved the one he sought and with a flourish plugged it into one of the notches on his chest. Energy once again surrounded him as a voice rang out “Guiding light, the Sword of Polaris”. Marco couldn’t help but think it sounded like Skeletor with a slight echo added to it. His exoskeleton turned cyan, silver armillary sphere-like armour formed on his shoulders, star-like patterns appear on the backs of his hands, a high collar of exoskeleton formed around his neck, his eyes extended up and out tapering to a point and his antennae was replaced by a silver outlined star chart. Perhaps most notable was the purple liquid in his chest which was now half empty, the clear top half giving a peak at clearly inhuman organs.

The Huntress was backing away from her former prey, unsure of how to continue. Marco, on the other hand, knew exactly what his next move was. He lunged forward, his right fist exploding into stellar light as he swung it with all of is might, followed by a left and another right. A furious series of well placed punches to his opponents jaw and ribs. Eventually a two handed hammer strike sent the killer flying through the wall she stood in front of, and as she was extricating herself from the ruble Marco strode until he stood above her. He tapped the charm on his chest and light one again surrounded his hand, shaping into an elongated eight pointed star akin to a sword. He pierced the huntress with his blade of light and pulled it out with a slashing motion. As he turned away, she broke apart into many pieces of iridescent matter which was scattered by the winds. Marco looks out upon the foggy landscape, now not quite as foggy as it had previously been. In the distance he can see an injured Star running from an unseen pursuer.

\-------------  
Star was running for her life, one hand holding the massive shoulder wound the Wraith gave her. She didn’t know where Marco was, or her wand and she had been mere moments from being hung up on a meat hook. She just hoped Marco could make it out, and maybe one day forgive her for dragging him into this mess. She turned a corner only to be greeted by a black and red bug man wearing a skull buckle. Just her luck that she would run into another killer. She dropped to her knees, too tired to keep running. As the new arrival walked up to her she accepted her fate, nearly missing the sound of small bells.

The Wraith became visible again and swung his weapon down towards Star, only for it to be caught by Marco. The purple fluid in is chest had begun to refill slowly once he removed the charm, and now measured two thirds. The Wraith stepped back, pulling his weapon from Marco’s grip. Marco reached out with his hand, drawing in the same iridescent matter that the Huntress became. In his fingers it formed into a new charm, one resembling her rabbit mask in front of her axe. He places it into a notch, draining only a small amount of the purple liquid.

“A Lullaby in the Dark, the Huntress” the belt calls out. His exoskeleton and silver parts became rusted, his helmet turning white and rabbit-ear like protrusions extend from his eyes, a pair of leather suspenders appeared on his chest, a blue floral patterned half-dress wrapped his left side and a broad axe with a rusted silver head and a dark red haft formed in his hands. Marco slung the axe over his shoulder and nodded towards the Wraith, who in exchange looked on bewildered. With a flourish of his left hand a hatchet made of iridescent matter materialised and fired off, embedding itself into the Wraith for a moment before fading.

Star was stunned, and all she could do was watch as the “bugman” begun swinging his axe at the stiff Wraith, knocking him around but not making any apparent headway. In turn the Wraith swung his weapon, dragging across his armour generating a shower of sparks. The battle went on, Marco blocking with the haft of his axe and tossing the occasional hatchet into his foe. The Wraith tried, but his speed and range of motioned was lacking. Marco’s axe swings wore down the killer and eventually the time came, Marco tapping the huntress charm and the edge of the axe-head igniting bright red. He drew back the axe and brought it down on the Wraith, the spidery legs of the Entity striking from behind Marco as his attack connects. Pulling his axe out with a flourish, Marco once again turns away as his opponent fades away. He holds out his hand, allowing the Wraith charm to form in his palm. It took the shape a stylized skull, spine and blade.

As the fog cleared Star looked up at the victorious bugman who grasped his buckle, closing the skull’s jaw. In a flash it became her best friend, Marco Diaz.

“What.. Marco?” Star stuttered.

“Star! You’re alright!” Marco moved towards her, embracing her in a tight hug. Releasing the princess he retrieved the star charm as if from thin air “Look, I found it. It’s what we came her for right?”

Star looked at the small glowing object held in Marco’s palm. It did in fact appear to be the object from her book. “Where did you find it?”

“It was embedded in a wall, when I pulled it out I… I wanted to save you and it gave me that belt. I’m not sure how but I feel different. I think we might need to talk to Glossaryck when we get back. For now let’s try to find your wand.” Marco offered his other hand to help Star to her feet.

\-------------  
Star was quiet for the walk across the dreary landscape, until they eventually stumbled upon her wand lying on the ground. As she picked it up she spoke “I’m really sorry about all of this.” she rubbed the back of her head “I really Star-ed it up this time. We really almost died. I…”

“Look Star. Yeah, we almost died. And sure, it is technically your fault. But it was my decision to come with and we’re both still alive. Now that we have your wand let’s just portal back home and get patched up. No harm, no foul” He smiled at her and she nodded. Drawing her scissors she once again cut through the air. Nothing happened.

“Um… hehe” Star laughed nervously “Do you want to try?”

“Fine” Marco took the scissors and tried, still nothing happened.

“So we start a new life here?” Star joked with panic in her voice.

Marco contemplated the scissors for a moment “Polaris!” he yelled and immediately retrieved the star charm.

“What are you doing?”

“When I used the charm it said it was Polaris. The North Star. On earth it’s been used to navigate since basically forever.” He held up the charm and through his new powers felt what he needed to do. “Send us home” Holding out the hand clutching the charm he conjured a shimmering metallic wall, a faint reflection of his bedroom visible on its surface. He looked at Star then shrugged, returning her scissors before motioning for her to go through. Star gave a worried smile and then headed into the portal with Marco close behind.

\-------------  
“So I guess the charm is yours” was the first thing Star said, accompanied by an awkward laugh, when they arrived home. Marco went to reply but she interrupted him “You seem to be okay, I’ll just go to my room and heal myself with my wand and go to bed” She quickly dashed to her own room and locked the door, slumping up against it. She could hear Marco follow her. 

“Star, are you alright?” Marco asked, knocking on her door. She didn’t respond for some time so he tried again “Star?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Let’s just go to bed, we still have school in the morning”

“Alright” he knew she wasn’t fine, the school excuse sealed it. But he figured it would do no good to push right now, and he headed back to his room. Looking over herself Star found dress was ruined. Not only was it all cut up, but it was heavily blood stained. She turned her wand towards herself an cast a spell to seal her wound. Healing magic was not her forte, and so it left an obvious scar on her shoulder. She changed into her pajamas, and incinerated her bloody dress with her wand. It just felt like the thing to do. She was sore, tired, worried and overflowing with regret. Slowly she walked over to her mirror.

“Call Kelly”

\-------------  
“And I feel terrible, because he’s my bestie. It was all my fault. What if the thing turns him into one of those monsters? Or more of them come after us. Or…” Star rambled on to her bush-like adventuring buddy.

“Star. Star calm down” Kelly interjected “Just take a deep breath. He said it was okay, and you are both still alive. I’m sure he’ll be fine, and I know he won’t hold it against. Like you said, he is your bestie”

“Thanks. I really needed that. Still, I really messed up this time.”

“Well then maybe do something nice for him. You know, to make it up to him.”

“That’s a great idea! I’ll take him to the edible dimension and…”

“Or maybe something besides dimension hopping, Maybe something non-magical?” Kelly interrupted Star again.

“Err, yeah. You’re probably right.”

\-------------  
Marco awoke to the sound of a smoke alarm. Quickly dashing through the house he arrived in the kitchen only to find a soot covered Star and a half melted frying pan. She turned and shot Marco her best innocent smile. “Star? What are you doing?” he asked.

“Oh, me? I was just trying to make you pancakes…” she looked down bashfully.

“Why?”

“I wanted to make things up to you for yesterday” She continued to stare at the ground.

“Star. I already told you it’s fine. Now go take a shower while I clean up here.” Marco replied. She dejectedly complied and marched off.

\-------------  
Going about his morning routine Marco noticed something. He felt stronger, more spry and his senses were sharper. He could also still feel his transformed self, as if his other body was superimposed over his normal one. He could also still sense the charms is other self possessed, as if they were in some unseen pocket. It was disorienting to say the least. Thankfully, or at least somewhat thankfully, a remorseful Star really wanted to help him. Typically she caused more harm than good, but she was being extra careful.

When he arrived at school with a quite bedraggled Star, who was still feeling the effects of yesterday plus lost sleep, he found the place rather peaceful. Then a realization dawned on him: Janna. She had been acting strange, well more than usual. She was distant, tired and Marco was certain he saw a bruise on her neck. He had intended to question her today but was so distracted by his own current predicament that he blanked on it, and now she was asleep on her desk and class was about to start. During lunch, he resolved, then he would talk to her.

\-------------  
Marco was rushing across the football field to catch Janna, who was apparently trying to ditch in quite the hurry. He found himself bounding at an impossible pace, managing to grab the girl by he arm. She turned quickly almost in a panic.

“Janna” Marco began “What’s going on?”

“Let go, I need to be somewhere.” she replied, attempting to pull herself from his grip.

“Where? Why? Seriously you have me worried.”

“It’s complicated. I really need to go” She continued to struggle.

“If you’re in trouble or someone is hurting you..”

“No.” Janna interrupted “it’s not like that. I’m just… figuring something out. I was going to tell you, but now is not the time. It’s important” a pleading look plastered her face and Marco just let go and watched her walk off. He could feel something different about her through his other form, and sensed other things further afield. He didn’t quite understand it, but he knew Janna. She seemed genuine, or as genuine as she could ever seem.

\-------------  
That evening Marco found himself locked in his room, finally growing tired of Star’s near babying of him. Just some space, he told her. Everything was fine. He laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling while contemplating his charms. They were called Concept Charms, each representing an idea and bearing great power. Polaris, the Huntress and the Wraith were those he had seen before but there were so many more. Phantom Thief, Great Detective, Pirate King, Steam Locomotive, Arctic Blizzard, Ancient Fossil, Bottomless Grave and many many others. Some simple like Grasshopper and Paper, and others more complex like Beetle Brothers and Fruit of Helheim. Each of them communicating their meaning and capabilities directly into his mind as they flew through his consciousness.

After a while he suddenly became aware of another disturbance in his senses, like those he felt when talking to Janna. It almost felt like it was compelling him to investigate. Deciding he could use the distraction, he checked to make sure his door was locked before exiting through the window. He jogged across Echo Creek under the light of the moon, trying to find what he was sensing. Eventually he was greeted by the sounds of battle, and rushing to the scene he was surprised by what he saw.

Among the combatants was someone familiar. Or at least they felt that way. On a more conscious level they reminded Marco of his own transformed state. They wore a soft black bodysuit with metallic red thigh high boots, a blue belt buckle with some kind of wrench-like handle and a red bottle plugged into its center with a long metallic red robe extending from it, shoulder length gauntlets, a “vest” with a high collar around a black chest plate with cracks across it in the shape of a pentagram, layered feather-like metallic red pauldrons on its shoulders, a black helmet with red mouthplate which extended up the sides with inward pointing spikes, a complex series of cracks forming on the black face with large purple compound eyes and topped with a metallic red wizard’s hat.

As for its foes, they wore brown with a ribcage like chest plate and a bony helm resembling a spine and ribs. Each of the dozen or so of them carried a sword that also appeared to be made of bone. They surrounded their target who deftly weaved through the swings of their blades, countering with blasts of blue fire and explosive green lightning. Shaking off his awe Marco entered the fray with a flying kick to one of the brown clad beings. 

“What are you doing here!?” the red warrior yelled, Marco noting the voice was female.

“I’m not sure, but...” He reached down and found is belt had formed around his waist. He grasped the skull before releasing it and transforming. 

“No way… you’re a rider?”

“I have no idea what that means” Marco admitted.

“No shit.” She responded “We’ll deal with that after handling these masquerades” they returned their attention to the battle, firing off a flurry of magic projectiles. Marco moved in as well, putting his martial arts experience to good use. He couldn’t believe this individual managed to hold their own against so many foes who were way stronger, faster and more durable than any he had faced before. But then again he was also better, far beyond what his human body was previously capable of. After a while his ally cranked the handle of their belt which announced “Nezi Finish!”. Marco watched energy flowing through and gathering at her foot before she leapt to the sky. An illusory pentagram formed beneath a group of the masquerades as she rocketed down leaving a trail of runes until colliding with her targets which exploded in a colourful smoky blast. 

When the smoke cleared Marco was shocked as what appeared to be a group of mewmans were left in place of their opponents, and a number of strange devices fell amongst them and shattered. She motioned to him, urging him to finish his opponents as well. He gulped and reached deep, drawing energy from within and coalescing it in his fist causing it to glow golden. He then charged delivering a supercharged strike to each of the remaining masquerades, and when he was done and released the energy they burst in a wave of red light simultaneously. Just like before the masquerades reverted to mewmans, the apparent source of their transformation lying shattered around them.

“What the hell was that!?” He quickly made his way to the other warrior.

“That’s what i’m saying! You didn’t even transform right, Diaz!” She berated him.

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, when you transform your supposed to pose and yell “Henshin!” and when you're finished you pose again and say your catchphrase.”

“No, no, no. You called me Diaz. Janna? Is that you?”


	2. Two of a Kind

Long ago a great artefact was found by the men of a certain village and brought back. Deciding to protect the treasure, a stone chest was constructed in the center of the town. Its lid proved too heavy for any ordinary man to lift, though many had tried over the years. But now the village burned, its people slaughtered by oni who were in turn marvelling over the chest. It seemed that even yokai had issue opening the chest. A blur of motion fluttered through the group surrounding the chest, and they collapsed having been shredded by the claws of an unseen assailant.

Sesshomaru felt no need to avenge the villagers or save any survivors. This stone chest on the other hand had piqued his curiosity, for the energy he sensed within was unlike any he had ever felt before. He placed a single hand upon its lid as Jaken and Rin arrived behind him.

“Master Sesshomaru” a winded Jaken spoke, panting heavily “Is this the energy you felt?”

Sesshomaru didn’t answer him, merely generating acid from his claw softening the stone and allowing him to sink his claw straight through the material. With a single sharp yank he managed to toss aside the barrier that had denied so many before. Within he found a strange device, jet black and made of some unknown material. Atop the gizmo was a screen depicting a flowing galaxy. Alongside the larger device were a number of small knick-knacks. He did not quite understand what they were, though he recognized two were bottles, one of which had a flower engraved upon it, and another object which depicted a shinobi. 

“Ooh” Rin cooed “What is it?”

Sesshomaru remained silent, he had heard a myth of a human warrior belonging to the Linto tribe who had wielded something similar. A gift from a god supposedly. Perhaps an artefact of this caliber was worthy of use. He silently placed the device in front of his waist, a band of silver chain wrapping around him. Rin and Jaken were startled by it and stepped back.

“Umm, Master?”

“Silence Jaken” He replied. He grasped a toggle on the belt and twisted it “Henshin!” he called out. In turn the belt responded “A-A-A-Absolute! Raidazukingu!” He was engulfed in a galaxy patterned viscous liquid which gave off a bright light. Slowly it hardened and darkened until a black clad figure had replaced the young demon lord. The armour was jagged and covered his whole body, spikes jutted from his shoulders and helmet. Upon his face were two large compound eyes which extended into points, flowing with the spikes around them. After a moment they flickered to life, illuminating with amber light. A long white scarf formed around his neck and billowed in the wind. He found that he suddenly knew what those devices in the chest were, as if the belt told him itself. The rose and helicopter full bottles, the blood orange lockseed and the shinobi miridewatch. What he wore was the Absol driver, and it had the ability to wield them all.

Having what he needed he canceled the transformation and was surprised to find a smooth black metal arm had replaced his missing one. He flexed it and it felt as if it were his own. “Whoa” both Rin and jaken were amazed. Smiling he placed the Absol driver inside his kimono, alongside the various transformation trinkets.

“First, we finally retrieve my sword, then we end Naraku....” As he spoke Sesshomaru sensed something in the north, it resonated with his new arm “Or perhaps we find another treasure first.” 

\------------  
Rin was asleep, riding on the back of Sesshomaru’s two headed dragon A-Un, Jaken sitting near her as the group travelled north. “Master Sesshomaru, I was wondering” Jaken spoke softly, almost as if he did not in fact want him to hear.

“What is it Imp” he replied.

“Well, not that I intend to question your judgement”

“Then don’t”

“It’s just that you were always so opposed to using the shikon jewel, but you are willing to use that belt.”

“You wonder what makes them different? The shards of the jewel are weak, imperfect and imbalanced. The conflicting energies within makes them unstable. Above all the jewel was born from a human, unlike the demon weapons I wield. This driver was forged by the kami for a worthy user. That user is now me.” Sesshomaru explained sternly.

“Well I guess that makes sense.” Jaken conceded.

\-------------  
When the group arrived at the location Sesshomaru had sensed, they found a castle half destroyed and overrun with mummy-like creatures. He could feel a fleeting flicker of energy within them, but what he came here to find was further within.

“Stay here” he commanded his travelling companions. He barely hears Rin wish him luck as he readies his belt. With a flick of his wrist he activates his transformation “Henshin!”

Stepping forward, the black clad yokai made short work of the creatures as he made his way inside. Each one fell with a single hit, leaving behind half of a strange silver coin when destroyed but he paid them no mind. The power he sought was deeper. Simply smashing the walls in his path he swiftly made his way to the center of the structure, where he found a strange creature sitting upon a throne. It was examining silver coins before tossing them aside. He knew what he came for was within the monster.

It was clad in black with orange armour that resembled a snakes skin, a turtle shell sat upon its back, it’s crocodile-like head had the hood of a cobra, no eyes adorned the head and instead it had a dark orange visor, it possessed a long tail and had lines of razor teeth on its arms and legs. As Sesshomaru approached it snapped its attention to him.

“Such a powerful desire. Coveting the possessions of your own brother so strongly” it hissed at the demon. Sesshomaru refused to dignify what it had said with a response, simply rushing in and delivering a flurry of blows to the creature’s body but instead he found himself pounding on a hexagonal barrier of energy. It delivers a slicing arm strike, knocking the yokai back as sparks fly from the point of contact. “You have no chance against a Greeed, rider.”

“You underestimate me, so called Greed.” He produced the two bottles as if from nowhere, is belt changing shape to form slots for the bottles.

“Rose! Helicopter! Best match! Jounetsu no Sepuki! RoseCopter!” Crimson thorns wrapped around his left arm and the left half of his torso, his left pauldron aking on a rose like form. His left pauldron changed to resemble a helicopter complete with blade on his back. Reaching back he retrieves the helicopter blade, wielding it like a dual ended sword. In an instant he is back on his foe, taking careful swipes while dodging. Slowly he gauged the barrier, searching for a weakness. He moves in for a overhead feint and follows it up by wrapping his enemies legs with a thorny vine. Pulling the Greeed’s feet out from under him, he then follows through with a downward stab with his blade. When it pierced the Greed numerous silver coins were sent flying. With his other arm Sesshomaru reached into his opponent, attempting to remove the objects of power within. 

Before he could succeed, is opponent grabbed and bit him. Sesshomaru could feel the venom entering his body as he pulled back. “You should have listened to me. I would have granted your desires, but now… Now you die” it taunted him. 

Retrieving another trinket, the miridewatch this time. His belt changed again while retaining the fullbottle slots. The mapping slot and crank handle appeared, allowing him to plug in the watch and fold it into his driver. “Dara Ja? Ore Ja? Ninja! Futuring Shinobi!” His scarf became purple, purple cloth wrapped his forearms and shins, a ninjato attached to his belt, a shuriken pattern formed on his chest and two crossed kunai resembling antennae appeared on his head. 

“Do you really think that will save you? Even if you win, there is no cure for my venom.” the Greed dismissed his opponent, returning to its throne. Sesshomaru’s response was about a dozen kunai thrown simultaneously at the Greeed’s head. His opponent blocked, but failed to notice the rider teleport in a cloud of smoke. Arriving behind the Greed he jammed both his helicopter blade and a purple ninjato into his foe, piercing the turtle shell and sending forth a shower of coins. The Greeed simply moved forward, pulling itself off the blades before turning to strike his assailant. Before the strike connected the rider poofed away in a cloud of smoke.

Landing away from the Greeed, Sesshomaru snatched up a number of the silver coins and once again his belt changed. A coin slot appeared on the right side, between the bottles and where the watch was locked into place. On the back of the watch’s slot a golden knob formed. He inserted one coin and twisted the knob. White and green half orbs formed on his chest, forearms, thighs and shins with a popping sound. At this development the Greeed was taken aback, feeling the power of desire flow into the rider.

“No, that’s impossible.” Enraged he charged Sesshomaru, who once again disappeared. This time, however, he replaced himself with a wooden log which caused the Greeed to crash into it hard. 

“I told you before. You underestimate me” He inserted another coin and twisted the knob.

“Breast Cannon!” the belt announced as a massive weapon formed out of the orb on his chest. He inserted more coins, charging it to maximum before smiling to himself. The Greeed had barely finished standing when Sesshomaru fired a massive blast of energy, causing him to explode into coins. Sesshomaru then cancelled his transformation. He methodically collected the silver coins, time being no issue as he had already fought off the venom, before making his way to three gold rimmed orange coins. The first depicted a cobra, the second a turtle and the third a crocodile. He then calmly walked off, making his way back to Rin and Jaken.

\-------------  
“Why are we heading this direction again, Lord Sesshomaru?” Janken nagged.

“I sense another beacon of power there, as well it is the area where my brother and his human pet operate out of.” Sesshomaru replies, waiting a moment before continuing “If you ask again, I will throw you off A-Un and leave you behind.”

“Of course.” Jaken responds nervously.

“Am I your human pet?” Rin suddenly asks.

“No.” Sesshomaru responds curtly, not taking his gaze off the path ahead.

\-------------  
Resting for the evening around a fire, Sesshomaru lies slumped against a tree. Sleep would not come so he found himself awake, staring at the starry sky. Truthfully he had no idea why he decided to use the driver, nor why he felt the urge to further his collection of transformation gadgets. He did rather enjoy is battle with the Greeed for, as brief as it was, the creature was a worthy challenge. His thoughts then turned sour at the memory of the Greeed’s words “Coveting the possessions of your brother so strongly”. Tessaiga was his by birthright, not his brother’s. Although he did now have a greater weapon, one all his own. One he could forge his own legend with. No, it was the principle of it. He must have “his” sword.

\-------------  
Sesshomaru and his group were nearing the source of power he had sensed, when he felt two weaker sources approaching. In the distance he could see two men walking in their direction. “Wait” he gestured for the others to stop. “I’m going ahead” he ran, even faster than usual. He stopped before reaching the two men, then approached slowly.

“You!” One of the men spoke “You were the Makamou who attacked the castle!”

“I am no Makamou” he snarled “and neither was the creature that actually attacked the castle.” Sesshomaru could feel something strange about these two. They smelled human but could sense demon energy within them, and that was besides what his rider powers were detecting.

“Eh? We were sent your description through a shikigami. They said you attacked the castle.”

“Leave.” he responded “Now. You’re wearing on my patience.”

The two men exchanged a glance before acting. One retrieved a tuning fork and the other held up his arm revealing a bracelet. The one with the bracelet slid it open exposing a group of strings. He strummed them as the other tapped the tuning for on his own forehead. They both spoke in unison “Henshin!”.

The tuning fork user was engulfed in purple fire, transforming into a purple oni-like being who wielded two clubs that reminded Sesshomaru of bachi, drum sticks, for some reason. The other was struck by lightning, transforming into a green oni-like being that wielded a string instrument which resembled a gottan.

“Heh. A pair of humans pretending to be yokai. If that’s the way you want it. Henshin!” Sesshomaru activated his own transformation. He deftly evaded swings of both the clubs and string instrument, delivering swift kicks to both of his opponents and sending them sprawling. As they rose to their feet he figured it was as good a time as any and pulled out his three core medals as he learned they were called. His belt changed to possess three coin slots and generated some kind of scanner on the side. Inserting them and locking the belt into a slant. He grabbed the scanner and ran it across the coins.

“Cobra, Kame, Wani! Bura-ka-wani!” orange crocodile patterns formed on his legs, turtle shell shields on his arms, a plate appeared on his chest depicting the three animals and a cobra-turban formed on his head with the snake’s tail hanging behind. The purple one breathed out a gout of flame and Sesshomaru simply held out a hand and blocked it with the same energy barrier the Greeed used. The green one attempted to use this as an opening but Sesshomaru quickly turned and scissor kicked him, biting him with a crocodile head made of energy. Landing on his feet Sesshomaru quickly sidestepped another attack from the purple one.

Sesshomaru began pressuring the purple one with shield strikes while his ally recovered. Sensing an opportunity he once again used the scanner across the medals. Leaping into the air, three orange rings formed between him and his target. Plummeting down, a massive energy crocodile formed around him, biting down on his foe just as the rider’s kick connected. Reverting to human, the purple one fell unconscious.

“Damn you!” the other false-oni screamed, firing blasts of electricity at the yokai. Sesshomaru quickly turned and blocked the blasts as his opponent rushed closed the distance. Attempting to jam the spike on the bottom of their instrument into the yokai rider, the green one was sloppy in their desire to avenge their comrade. Sesshomaru sidestepped him and quickly turned, channeling his acidic poison through his rider form, and grabbed the back of their head. 

“Weak humans need to know their place” he said while still holding onto his foe’s head. While his enemy struggled Sesshomaru moved to scan his medals for a third time using his other hand. When the green warrior broke free and retreated a distance it was too late as orange rings formed ground level between the combatants and Sesshomaru dashed through them, gathering energy in his arm, before striking with the turtle shield. In an explosion, the second of his foes reverted. Cancelling his transformation, he retrieved the transformation devices of his foes before returning to his own allies.

\-------------  
“Master Sesshomaru, is that?” Jaken asks, as nervous as ever.

“Yes. The Bone-Eater’s Well. I sense an overwhelming amount of power on the other side.” Sesshomaru replied.

“What is it?” Rin looked quizzically at the wooden well before them.

“It was used as a place to dispose of the bodies of yokai.” Jaken began.

“It took in their power and became a portal through time. The human girl, Kagome, she is from the other side.” Sesshomaru interrupted the imp.

“What’s it like?”

“I don’t know”

“Are we going through it?”

“Not yet.” Sesshomaru turned from the well and began walking away.

“What do you mean not yet!?” Jaken yelled, earning a scowl from his master “I mean, surely you don’t intend to travel to the future?”

“You need not come, imp”

“I… I understand my lord. I will go wherever you will” Jaken relented.

\-------------  
Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo, Sango and Miroku were sat around a fire eating dinner when the dog demon heard the familiar footsteps of his brother. He quickly leapt to his feet, startling his companions in the process.

“What’s wrong?” Kagome asks

“My brother is coming.” Inuyasha growled, inspiring his allies to ready themselves as well. It was mere moments before Sesshomaru arrived, his own group in tow. “What do you want?”

“I have come to finally claim my sword” He retrieved his transformation driver using his black hand.

“A new arm? And what’s that?” Inuyasha spat his words at his brother.

“Let me show you, half-breed.” he placed the driver on his waist, chains extending and wrapping around him “Henshin!” Sesshomaru calmly activated his transformation.

“A-A-A-Absolute! Raidazukingu!” his belt announced as he changed into his rider form.

“No.. no way…” Kagome stepped backwards “You… you’re a Rider”

“A Rider?” Inuyasha looked between the young maiden and his brother.

“Indeed. Although I am interested in what you know of Riders.” Sesshomaru addressed the human.

“I mean.” She looked away “I’ve heard stories, seen conspiracy theories in magazines. But I never believed in riders.”

“Is that so? Then allow me to demonstrate just how real this power is” he waved his hand with a flourish as he spoke. Oh, he was enjoying this. Striding towards Inuyasha, he was savoring the tension in the air. His brother was as impatient as ever and rushed in with his sword, which Sesshomaru caught in his hand. He then retaliated with a right hook, then left uppercut into elbow strike and topping off the combo with a turning kick which sent his brother flying. Returning to his saunter, Sesshomaru drew the bracer he had taken from the false oni. Flipping it open and strumming it with his thumb, he generated a device resembling the bridge of a guitar. It was lined in green with yellow strings over a golden crest: a circle with three ‘fireballs”. A clasp for the bridge formed on his belt, and he attached the device. 

Sesshomaru was struck by a bolt of lightning accompanied by the shredding of an electric guitar. When it faded he bore a bandolier across his chest, his forearms and hands had turned silver and a bronze oni-face crest appeared on his forehead. As he approached his slowly rising brother, Inuyasha’s companions moved in to assist their comrade.

“Stay back!” the younger dog demon yelled “He’s mine” wiping the blood from his lip he readied his sword once again. 

“You really think you can with this?” it had been a while since he last had fun taunting an opponent. Why did he stop doing that again? “If you’re so strong, prove it, half-breed.”

Inuyasha moved in with a overhead swing, which Sesshomaru dodge by turning sideways. Following up with a quick change of direction, Inuyasha swung his blade once again in his brother’s direction. Ducking the swing, Sesshomaru charged his fist with electricity and struck the half-demon with a spiralling uppercut. Crashing onto his back, Inuyasha looked up to see his brother standing over him.

“This is finished.” claws extended from the knuckles of his silver gauntlets, green electricity crackling between them.

“No!” Kagome dove onto Inuyasha “Please. Don’t kill him.” Sesshomaru didn’t hesitate and swung downward only to stop when he felt something tap him. Looking over he saw Rin who stood on her tiptoes to whisper something to him. He laughed.

“Fine. I will spare you all, under one condition. You, human woman, will be my guide on the other side of the bone-eater’s well.”

“What?” The entirety of the younger brother’s group yelled simultaneously.

“Greater power awaits me there, and you are familiar with the era”

“Kagome, don…” Inuyasha was losing consciousness. 

“Do we have a deal?”

“Fine. I’ll take you there.” Kagome replied bitterly. Sesshomaru cancelled his transformation, a wry grin on his face.

\-------------  
Sesshomaru, Kagome and Rin stood around the well. Jaken was ordered to quote “keep an eye on the weaklings” and so remained with Inuyasha’s group. 

“What are you waiting for?” he barked at the teenage girl.

“Nothing” she responded worriedly “Just…” she gulped “okay. I’m going” She entered the well. 

“Ready?” he looked down at Rin who nodded vigorously. Picking her up in his arms he dove in.

\-------------  
“You can’t walk around like that!” Kagome scolded the older demon “Look, I’ll get you one of my grandfather’s old suits. And I can give Rin some of my clothes from when I was her age.”

The human was already wearing on Sesshomaru’s nerves. Perhaps this was not as good an idea as Rin made it sound. It was too late to back out now though, so he merely growled in disapproval as a dark blue business suit was thrust into his arms. He began stripping in front of the two girls, causing Kagome to turn bright red.

“What are you doing? Go in there, don’t just take off your clothes like that!” she yelled. Yes, Sesshomaru thought, this was going to be a long journey.

\-------------  
He returned dressed in black shoes, blue slacks, a white collared shirt which was only partially buttoned up, and an unbuttoned matching blue suit jacket. He had left the tie behind, not having quite figured it out. In all truth he looked quite good, although his inhuman features stood out even more than usual.

“Whaa, you look so handsome” Rin called out, wearing a slightly too large sailor uniform. Sesshomaru didn’t reply to her.

“Is this acceptable?” Sarcasm dripped from his words.

“Um..” Kagome looked him over “One last thing.” she retrieved a hair tie “let me put your hair up.” He rolled his eyes. With a nervous chuckle she moved around him and, with a bit of work, managed to corral his massive amount of hair into a high ponytail. “There. That should do it.”

“If you’re done then, let’s get going” he immediately strode out of Kagome’s house with Rin in tow.

“Hey, wait up” Kagome rushed after them.

\-------------  
Rin was awed by the modern world, oohing and awing at everything around her. Sesshomaru for his part seemed unimpressed. Kagome followed a short pace behind.

“Come on, we’ve been walking all day” She complained.

“You never seemed to mind when travelling with my brother”

“Well…” Kagome thought about it a moment. Sure it parly had to do with her companions, but also it felt different. Walking like this in the modern era just seemed more tiring.

“We’re here.” Sesshomaru suddenly stopped, Kagome nearly bumping into him from behind. They were outside a small medical clinic, its sign read “Hanaya Clinic”. Kagome couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of dread at whatever was coming next.


	3. Ooh Baby a Triple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one really got away from me. This is not at all what I had intended to do with this story, but hey that's what happens when you're writing completely off the cuff.

“Janna, this what you’ve been up to?” Marco questioned the other rider.

“Well yeah, I said I was going to tell you.” Janna admitted.

“You’ve had me worried. If this was the kind of problems you were having, me and Star…”

“Oh yeah, just call the magical princess to save the day. Maybe you’re alright relying on her to bail you out of trouble but I like being able to handle things on my own.” Janna sounded indignant.

“I don’t rely on her, and Janna there’s nothing wrong with asking for help. What’s gotten into you. Aren’t you and Star friends?”

“Of course we are you idiot. I just… I finally had something here. And you’re a Rider now too, we could be a great team. But no, your first instinct is to go running to Star.”

“Janna these are mewmans, Star should probably be told about this.”

“That’s not the point I was trying to make, but if you know so much better than me go ahead. Do what you want.”

“You know it’s not like that.” Marco began, only for Janna to storm up to him poking him in the chest.

“If it’s not then prove it” she insisted.

“Prove what?”

“That you’re a real rider”

“And how do I do that?” he asked as Janna walked away with a bounce in her step. She turned back to face him and Marco could swear he could see her grin through her helmet.

“Beat me” She answered while simultaneously firing a blue fireball at the rookie rider. Marco dived out of the way and could see Janna charging up another magical blast.

“Janna, I’m not going to fight you!” He beseeched his friend.

“Too bad” She fired off an orb of pure magical energy at Marco who was once again scrambling to get out of the way. Ducking around the corner of a nearby building Marco reached into his charm pouch for a moment before hesitating. What was he doing? Fighting Janna for no reason he could figure out? What kind of messed up nonsense was this? Then he heard her speak again “Running? Come on Diaz, you know better than to run from me” she was approaching slowly. Marco swallowed hard and pulled out a charm, a skull and crossbones with a crown, plugging it into a notch and standing to face the other rider.

“Rule the Seven Seas! The Pirate King!” Marco’s belt announced, and in a flash of colour he was transformed again. An old fashioned blue, long naval jacket hung over his shoulders. The shoulders of the coat were flush with his and topped with large epaulettes which resembled the bows of ships. The epaulettes were a lighter blue with golden trimmings. On the back of the coat was a stylised skull and crossbones wearing a crown, matching the charm. A blue tricorn hat with gold trim adorned his head and a golden, jewel encrusted crown was worn atop that. Sea blue armour pieces resembling stylised waves formed on both sides of his chest. In his hand materialised a golden cutlass. The tip of the blade split such that it resembled an anchor, and the handle clearly had an integrated flintlock pistol.

“I knew you’d come around, you did always like a fight!” Janna and Marco stood, facing each other down.

“I don’t want to hurt you, but if you give me no other choice… then have at ye!” Marco swung his blade, projecting a slash of pressurised water. Janna waved at it, freezing into red ice which she then smashed with a hard kick. Waving her arms around again, the frozen shards levitated before firing of at Marco who did his best to deflect and block them with his sword. Seeing an opening Janna drew a steam blade and moved in, slashing at the overwhelmed Marco. Each blow that connected sent out a stream of sparks. Marco staggered back and when Janna came in for another swing he caught her arm and judo threw her behind him.

“Janna, I have a lot more fighting experience. Stop this” He implored her.

“Maybe, but I’ve been a rider a lot longer than you” from on her back she fired a blast of exploding green electricity which sent Marco flying. The two quickly returned to their feet. Marco could feel the purple fuel in his chest refilling, the Pirate King charm having drained a full third, and it now sat at about three-fourths. Retrieving another charm from his pouch, this one a top hat, monocle, cane and white flower, he inserted it into another notch.

“Prince of Romance, Master of Disguise! The Phantom Thief!” In a swirling vortex of colour, the power of both charms blended. The once blue coat was now bright white with golden lining, as are the epaulettes. The collar of the coat was raised higher, nearly to eye level, the back of the coat flowed out more, and a rose was pinned to his lapel. The tricorn also turned white and the top of it had extended and flatted, becoming a top hat/tricorn hybrid and still retained the crown. A black and gold bandoleer crossed is chest, a golden domino mask surrounded his compound eyes, and white boots and gloves with golden ornaments also materialised. Lastly a black cane with a golden ball grip and golden tip appeared in his left hand, joining the cutlass which remained in his right.

“Another transformation? You really know how to make a girl feel special dontcha’? Now let’s have some real fun!” Janna announced, summoning forth yellow crystals from the earth around Marco. As the crystals erupted and attempted to pierce Marco, he leapt from the tip of one to another. His speed was blinding, and Janna was having trouble keeping track of him. In an effort to catch him she fires off a massive fireball, forcing Marco to leap high into the air. From mid air he levels his cutlass and pulls the trigger, Janna just barely summoning a stone barrier in time. Landing on his feet, Marco decided that he needed to end this. He moved in to fight Janna in close quarters, using both his cane and sword. She desperately attempted to defend against both weapons with just her steam blade, not having any opportunities to use her magic.

When Marco finally knocked Janna to the ground, he prepared to finish it. Tapping the Phantom Thief charm with his cane, he then gestured forward with it. Golden portals opened behind him which began to fire numerous golden weapons towards Janna at high speeds. As they continued to connect and keep her pinned down, he tapped his cutlass to the Pirate King charm. With a flourish he leveled the handle towards his friend, a spiral of water gathering around the barrel. He then fired his shot, a powerful blast of energy followed by a trail of pressurized water. The blast directly connected and in an explosion of water, Janna was defeated. Her transformation cancelled, both her and her belt fell to the ground.

Cancelling his own transformation, Marco rushed to Janna’s side. She was already in the process of sitting up when he got there. “Fine. You win.” She turned away from him “Go, run and tell Star or whatever.” Her tone made Marco feel like human trash, despite the fact that she started the fight.

“Janna you’re hurt. Let’s get you somewhere safe.” He moved to help her up, but she pulled away.

“Glad to finally know you care” Her words were bitter.

“Come on. You know I have always cared about you.”

“Really? Since when? I thought you only cared about pretty girls like Jackie and Star”

“Janna, just today I tried to check up on you. What are you even talking about?”

“What am I talking about?” Janna jumped to her feet and got in Marco’s face “Dammit you are dense. Ever since we were kids I watched you have your little infatuation with Jackie. You were so obsessed with her noticing you, and despite you being one of the smartest kids in our class and a skilled and athletic martial artist, she never did. If you ever had even an ounce of confidence you could of had her but you were so caught up in your own head that was never going to happen. Then Princess Star Butterfly shows up and drags you off on one wild adventure after the next, the two of you becoming basically attached at the hip. And from that you finally started to get that confidence and sure enough Jackie starts noticing you.”

“I don’t understand, what are trying to say?”

“I’m saying that when I became a rider, I finally had something real. Something I could use to show you that i’m just as good as those two.”

“As good as those two? Their our friends Janna. Why do you care about this so much?”

Janna slapped Marco. Hard. “You fucking idiot. I can’t honestly believe you aren’t capable of putting this together. I want you to pay me the same kind of attention you pay them. I want you to treat me like I could be your…” her voice got quieter as she spoke, the last word being inaudible. Thankfully, for once in his life Marco understood what was happening.

“Oh. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like this. I can’t believe I never noticed that I was being so stupid.” He rubbed the back of his head “and you are just as good as them, even without being a rider. You’re probably the best thief and occultist in all of Echo Creek. You’ve always been special to me, I mean we’ve been friends since forever. I hate that I may have hurt you inadvertently. I wish I could make it up to you somehow...”

Janna appeared to be on the verge of tears, she roughly grabbed his collar and pulled him into a kiss. Marco’s first instinct was to push her off, but he realized that might not be the best course of action and just let it happen. When she pulled away their eyes met. 

“Then treat me right, and never mention this to anybody” she commanded him with something in here eyes Marco could only interpret as rage, and he dutifully nodded in response. “Good” she let go of his collar and left, leaving a still somewhat bewildered Marco behind.

\-------------  
It was well past midnight when Marco arrived home and despite the night he had, he just couldn’t fall asleep. He had thought that fighting that much so late would have tired him out, but instead he laid awake going over the night’s events in his head. He was still having a hard time believing that Janna felt that way. She was always so… like Janna. How the hell was he supposed to figure it out? For as long as he could remember she was always messing with him. Breaking into his house, making copies of his house keys, stealing all his passwords, and his clothes, and other belongings and regularly flirting with him. 

Realizing that he may in fact be an absolute idiot, Marco smacked himself in the head. She had been doing all these things for so long that he never thought anything of it, but the point is she had always been doing them. And she had been a rider for who knows how long, trying to get to a point where she could take him on exciting adventures like Star did. Star. Did Star ever notice how Janna acted around him? And what about those mewman monsters? There was so much he needed to find out. How much did Janna expect him to not tell anyone about though? Just the kiss? Or all the rider business? He figured it would be safer to just keep it all quiet for now.

Still lying awake in bed, he saw his clock tick over to three in the morning. If this is what being a rider is like, no wonder Janna has been so tired.

\-------------  
His alarm went off, eliciting a groan. Marco was thankful it was friday, hoping beyond hope that he would find respite in the weekend. He groggily meandered down the stairs in search of breakfast. In the kitchen he found an equally rough looking Star helping his mother cook. “Morning” he yawned.

“Morning Marco!” Star put on an overly cheerful tone “breakfast is almost done!”

“Waking up early is rather unlike you, and you don’t look like you slept that much” Marco commented.

“Ah, well. I had some nightmares, no biggie. What about you?”

“Just couldn’t sleep.” He partially lied. He never liked lying, but he also didn’t like breaking promises. Losing Janna’s trust at this point seemed like the worse option. And so an incredibly drowsy Marco and Star went about their morning routine.

\-------------  
Arriving at school Marco once again had a realization, he had missed his morning hello with Jackie the previous day. Now to be fair he had, and still has, a lot on his plate so one could hardly fault him for being distracted. He was lucky his insomnia-addled mind even managed to remember. Watching her approach down the hall, he also spotted Janna. Suddenly he was of two minds. He had worked so hard to get to this point with Jackie, but he also wanted to make sure Janna was alright and show her he did care about her.

“Marco? Hello? Earth to Marco?” Star drags him from his thoughts “You look a little spaced out.”

“Huh? Oh yeah, just thinking” dammit he needed to make a judgement call here, not exactly his strong suit. If it was he probably wouldn’t be in this kind of mess. “I’ll be right back, Star” He moved through the crowd of students over to Janna. “Hey Janna.”

“Oh. Hey Marco.” She seemed to be perfectly awake. “You look like crap.”

“Well geez thanks. And yeah, I couldn’t sleep at all last night.”

“Oh?” Janna began, then lowered her voice for the next part “was the kiss really that good?”

“Haha, Janna. Seriously though, how are you alright right now? You have been asleep on your feet for what seems like weeks now, and now, after last night, you seem perfectly fine.”

“Honestly, last night I had the best sleep I’ve had in years” She waved her arms to emphasize her point “I really needed that, and I’m looking forward to our “rematch”.” She wiggled her eyebrow at Marco to punctuate that last part.

“Rematch? Janna, I…”

“Oh don’t worry I didn’t mean like tonight, but one day I’m going to kick your ass and prove I’m the better rider.” The bell rang, signalling the start of the school day. She shrugged at Marco “let’s go.”

\-------------  
Marco could already tell things were getting complicated around him, or a least the severity of it was finally settling in. Star seemed distraught an all around distracted. She said she was having nightmares, maybe she was still stuck on those monsters that nearly killed him. Janna was back to her old self, Marco realizing she had stolen his wallet during their discussion this morning. But now, with the revelation of her feelings weighing on him, it took on a different light. Everything about her did just about, even her appearance. Marco had never thought of her like that before, but now that he was dwelling on how she did in fact look cute. Albeit in a tomboyish sort of way. He didn’t dislike it, but he was still unsure how he felt about the whole thing.

The lunch bell rang and he made his way to the cafeteria with Star.

“What happened to you this morning?” Star asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well you missed your morning greeting with Jackie for the second day now, she actually came by and asked where you were.”

“Urgh” Of course she did. Janna did say she was starting to notice him, and now he was stuck between is longtime crush and one of his oldest friends. Just figures. “I’m just distracted. I’m surprised you noticed, since you seem so tired.”

“Well I’m always looking out for my bestie!” Star cheered, slightly less enthusiastic than usual.

“And what about you? You said you were having nightmares?”

“Yeah..”

“What kind?”

“Well... I... um...”

“It’s okay Star, you can tell me.”

“It’s about back there, with the monsters. Everytime I close my eyes I see them chasing us again.”

Marco hugged her “It’ll all be better soon Star. We’re safe now. I know it was terrifying but we made it out.”

“It’s not just that” Star looked away.

“What do you mean?”

“When I’m dreaming it’s not just them, it’s also you. The transformed you, coming after me” She seemed clearly shaken by the thought.

“Oh.” Marco remembered that she doesn’t know anything about what he is now. He didn’t know all that much either, and would have to ask Janna about it. “Star. I know it probably seems frightening having seen me like that, but I’m still me. And I’m always going to be me. You don’t need to worry about that power changing me. I’m still learning about it, but it seems to be a good power. I’ll tell you all about it when it can. Has Glossaryck been back? He might be able to help too.”

“No, he’s still busy with something supposedly urgent but he wouldn’t say what it was”

Marco had a suspicion about what it was, which meant talking to Janna about rider stuff was an even more important task. “Maybe there’s a pudding festival going on? Not even the end of the world would be able to pull him away from that” Marco tried to joke.

“Hm” Star chuckled “That could explain it” She smiled, and Marco was thankful for it. If he could keep at least one part of his life stable for now, he might be able to survive. When they finally sat down for lunch he saw Janna sneaking out again. He could feel it too, but figured he would be more of a hindrance considering how tired he was.

\-------------  
When they got home both of them crashed hard. It was sometime in the a.m. when he heard Star scream. Being shaken from his own sleep he ran across the hall to her room “Star!? Are you alright!?” he called out as he entered. She was sitting on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest. Approaching the bed slowly Marco asked “Another nightmare?” she nodded in response. He sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s going to be alright Star.”

She sat there, teary eyed and silent. She knew the monster from her dream wasn’t really him, but it was still hard to deal with. Marco ran his hand through her hair, attempting to calm her down. As he did so, he felt something from his other self. It was a charm depicting a brightly coloured creature with an elephant's trunk and tusks, the eyes and horn of a rhino, the tail of an ox and the claws of a tiger. The Baku; a creature that protects from evil and pestilence. A creature that devours nightmares. 

Marco, not fully releasing the hug and just pulling away to arm’s length, asked a question “Star? Remember when I said things will be better soon?” she nodded “I meant it. I’ll make sure it does. Are you alright going back to sleep?” she looked at him with panic in her eyes, she clearly didn’t like the prospect of it “Star, I need you to trust me. If you go back to sleep I can help you.”

She looked away “I don’t want to go back”

“I know you don’t. I don’t either, but nothing will get better if we just run away.”

“Why not?” 

“You need closure, and you can’t get that without confronting it. Just believe in me.”

She continue to look away as she thought, before finally turning to look Marco in the eyes “I’ll believe in you.” Marco gave her a small smile in response.

“Goodnight Star. Sweet dreams” He left the room. Once he was back in his own bed he pulled out the Baku charm. He focused on it, drawing out its power while untransformed. His head fell back and hit his pillow, but is consciousness remained sitting. He moved from his bed, leaving his body behind as he astrally projected and travelled to Star’s room. She was still tossing and turning, unable to return to sleep. Marco approached in his ghostly form, unseen by the girl. Kneeling beside her bed he spoke “Star. It’s all going to be okay. I’ll be there with you. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. I’ll protect you.”

Marco continued to speak and encourage her until she finally calmed down and fell asleep. He then followed her into the dream. There she was, running through the foggy landscape while being pursued by the Wraith and Huntress. He watched her run until she encountered a dream version of him. She seemed so excited to see him, until he transformed. He moved to attack her, the “real” Marco taking the opportunity to reveal himself and blocking the evil Marco’s punch.

“What? Marco? But I thought?” Star looked between the two of them; one transformed, one not. 

“I told you Star, I’m going to make things better.” He smiled at her and summoned his own belt. What was it Janna told him? Oh right. “Henshin!” Marco struck a kung-fu pose as he transformed. 

“Come Eat My Dreams! Baku!” He changed directly into his Baku form. His undersuit became a jade green and his exoskeleton a bright pastel red with cream highlights. A trunk-like tube resembling a gasmask extended from the center of his silver mouthplate and plugged directly into his body, just below the ribs on his right side. The tube was flanked by small tusks on his face. Tiger-like claws extended from his third knuckle, were his fingers met his hand. Lastly his antennae were replaced with two vertically aligned, small rhino-like horns.

He stepped towards the evil Marco, who was still in his base form. Sensing the two killers approaching, Marco waved his hand. Purple smoke billowed from his palm as Star looked on. It cleared the fog and turned the environment from dark and dreary into something brightly coloured and illuminated by some unseen source. The killers were unable to enter the area affected by Marco’s dream powers.

“Now that we have the floor to ourselves, let’s deal with this faker. Right Star?” He turned to his friend, who in turn realized she was now holding her wand. She never had it in her dreams. That’s when Star remembered, this was just a dream. And now a good Marco was here to help her. Not the weirdest sequence she ever dreamt, but a welcome one.

“Hell yeah bestie” She lined up beside Baku Marco. The evil Marco growled and swung a left hook, which the other Marco caught. Using the leverage he twisted the fake Marco’s arm, giving Star an opening. “Super Duper Special Dream Rainbow Cannon!” She fired a solid stream of rainbow energy directly into nightmare Marco, sending him flying out of real Marco’s grip. 

“You’re doing great! Now go ahead, you got this!” the Baku Marco began pouring out more purple smoke, taking greater control of the dream. Light and colour flooded out from around him, flowers sprouted from the ground and rainbows criss-crossed the sky. Star could feel her confidence rising as the dream world became more positive. 

“Poison Crystal Cupcake Kiss” She fired a barrage of crystalline cupcakes at the false Marco who made a good showing of blocking them, but it was clear he was slowing down. Star then moved in, conjuring a blade of light from the wand’s tip. She slashed at her enemy whose attempts to dodge were clumsy, causing him to get tagged with the energy sword repeatedly. He was stumbling, black smoke pouring from his wounds. Star leveled her wand to his face and point blank called out “Narwhal Blast!”

Nothing remained of the nightmare Marco when the light from the spell faded, and Star turned to face down the two killers. The Huntress and the Wraith were both stunned by the light pouring down on them, they never stood a chance. When they were gone, Star turned to face the Baku Marco. He nodded to her and popped the tube from where it connected to his body and started to vacuum up the nightmare. It looked so surreal that it made Star giggle. 

\-------------  
Star awoke slowly the next morning, feeling refreshed. She only half remembered the events of her dream, but the feeling she had from overcoming the nightmare remained. She resolved to thank Marco for consoling her the previous night, unaware that the good dream Marco was in fact the real him.

The first thing Marco noticed when he awoke was just how full and rested he felt. He guessed he must have literally ate her nightmare. It actually felt pretty good. So, rather than the lazy saturday had planned, he decided he would question Janna about rider business. That and figure out what else he could use his charms for. He pulled out his cellphone and texted Janna.

“Hey Janna. I wanted to talk to you about rider stuff today. Let me know when/where to meet.”

Returning to the process of getting ready for the day Marco put himself on autopilot, repeating the same motions he had a million times before, allowing his mind to explore his charms once again. Plastic Lawn Flamingo was the first one to enter his mind, and an unorthodox one to be sure. Jack-O-Lantern, he’d have to remember that one come halloween. Shuten Doji, the commander of the Oni. Spirit of Chicago, represented by a fedora and tommy gun. Golden Spiral, Abyssal Abomination, Raven Prince, Starship Captain, Eternal Alchemist. They began flying through his head at too rapid a pace, overwhelming his senses. Yelping in pain and grasping at his head, Marco’s mind returned to the physical. He would need to focus better next time.

“Marco?” Star knocked on the bathroom door “Are you okay in there?”

Now aware of his surroundings Marco responded “Yeah, I’m fine” before moving over to the sink and splashing cold water on his face. When he finally exited, he found Star waiting outside the door.

“Morning” she beamed “I wanted to thank you for talking to me last night, I think I’m getting over the nightmares now.”

“That’s great Star” Marco smiled, not informing her of the truth.

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, I have stuff to do today. Boring stuff, so don’t worry. I’ll be heading out in a minute” Marco returned to his room to finish getting ready. Checking his phone he saw a reply from Janna.

“Just wait till you feel the pull of a kaijin attack. I’ll meet you there ;P”

\-------------  
Marco sat alone on a bench in the park. He had yet to sense any “kaijin” as Janna had said and instead was once again feeling his charms. This time he was being careful, working hard to maintain both his focus and proper breathing. He was studying each one carefully. First those he knew, then new ones. Jormungandr, Spider Swarm, Crystalline Sorcerer. It was astounding how many there were. Marco wondered if he would have enough time in his life to use them all. His introspection was interrupted when his newly sharpened senses picked up two familiar voices: Star and Jackie. Of course Star wouldn’t just stay at home, why would he ever even think that? Marco needed to leave before they saw him. Just as he was about to go, he heard them say is name.

Now Marco found himself in yet another complicated situation. He should just leave. He knows that. But he also really wants to know what they are saying. Thankfully for him, he didn’t need to pick as pings went off in his head. It was time to meet up with Janna.

\-------------  
Marco and Janna arrived on the scene just about simultaneously. And what a scene it was: besides the half a dozen masquerades there was a large monster which resembled a castle with arms and legs. The whole group was terrorizing everyone around them, smashing things and just generally causing chaos.

“You ready to do this?” Janna remarked, drawing out her blue belt and placing it on her waist.

“What about the people? Won’t they see us transform?”

“Nah, something about our powers helps protect our identities.” She drew out a red bottle with a golden lid and a purple topper of some sort. 

She twisted the topper and the bottle announced “Danger!” Inserting it into the belt, it in turn called out “Mahoutsukai!”

“Henshin!” Janna called out as she turned the level on her belt. As she crossed her arms across her chest a beaker formed around her, filling with red liquid. A set of red spiked arms, resembling the ones that flanked her helmet, rose from the ground a smashed the beaker.

“Breaking! Burning! Shocking! Nezi Mahoutsukai!” Her belt finished as her transformed state was revealed.

Marco nodded and summoned his belt with a gesture. He gripped the buckle with his left hand and turned sideways, pointing at the monster “Henshin!” he called out before releasing his buckle. Engulfed in a swirl of light, it soon faded revealing his transformed state. Moving to stand next to Janna the two enter a fighting pose before speaking in unison.

“Let’s Dance!” Marco calls out.  
“Let the ritual begin!” Janna proclaims.

The two nodded to each other as the masquerades began to surround them. Janna ran towards one, her hands already ignited with blue fire. As she began to thrash one two others moved to attack her with their swords. Across the way Marco had opened up with a karate chop, is hand slicing into the masquerade. When the two masquerades closed in on Janna she merely pointed one hand at each and fired the blue flames. Marco was ducking and dodging his foes, taking each missed swin of their swords as an opportunity to deliver a well placed blow. 

The castle monster seemed to have trouble deciding which rider to target, the magic user or the martial artist. When Marco turned his back to the monster, however, it took the opportunity to shoulder charge into him. Marco crashed to the ground, but after swiftly dodging one of the masquerade’s swords she fired off an explosive blast of energy to keep the enemies away from Marco. Rising to his feet, he decided to try out another charm. It depicted a blue stag beetle and a red rhinoceros beetle.

“Kabuto! Kuwagata! Red and Blue! The Beetle Brothers!” when the light faded Marco’s exoskeleton had been split down the middle, the left half red and the right half blue. His antennae were gone, replaced by a two toned kabuto horn. On each side of his helmet was a stag horn, matching the colour of their respective sides.

“Nice form, now help!” Janna called out as she retreated from the group of enemies. Marco ran back into the fray, first grabbing a masquerade and throwing it to the ground before moving to cut off the castle monster. Marco struck at the creature with punches and kicks, but it seemed to have no problem just taking them without flinching. Janna had begun providing cover fire, shooting one blast after another at the lesser monsters that were still around. 

The castle monster delivered a strong, two-handed overhead swing which nearly connected with Marco’s head. Just a split second before it had, however, he split in two. One Marco was completely blue and had only the stag beetle horns, the other red with only the kabuto one. The blue one immediately ran from the castle as a distraction as the red one moved to flank it. Delivering a hard straight punch to the back of a masquerades head, the blue one joined Janna in her battle with the castle in tow behind him.

“Any ideas?” he asked as Janna drew her steam blade.

“About what I can do with two Marcos? Yeah. About defeating that dopant though? Nah.”

“I really should have seen that one coming, huh?” he responded, elbowing a masquerade behind him. The red Marco was coming up behind the castle dopant as it approached the other battle. Just as it was entering the other fray it delivered a full speed slide kick, knocking its legs out from beneath it and rolling out of the way just before it landed on him. 

“Blue me, Janna. I have an idea” the red Marco said as it joined them in fighting the masquerades. The blue one nodded in response, then they both drew another charm. The red one readied the phantom thief one while the blue one readied a one which depicted a deerstalker hat, magnifying glass and wood pipe.

“Prince of Romance, Master of Disguise! The Phantom Thief!”  
“Elementary My Dear! The Game is Afoot! The Great Detective!” 

When the Red Marco finished transforming he bore a shimmering black cloak with a red interior around his shoulders with a matching top hat upon his head. Both appeared to flow into his exoskeleton. A white flower was attached to his chest on the left side, a bandolier crossed his chest, white boots and gloves formed, and of course a cane with a silver ball grip and tip appeared in his hand.

The Blue Marco’s chestplate changed and extended changing to resemble an open frock coat, it’s sleeves coming down to just above his bracelets. A series of adjustable lenses formed over his left eye, the exoskeleton on his hands turned black, a bowler hat formed on is head and flowed into the horns like the hat of his opposite, and a silver chain can be seen hanging across his “coat”. In his hand formed a large, stylised revolver made from blue exoskeleton with a silver grip. The gun resembled a modern handgun more than a traditional revolver, but with an extended barrel to make room for the cylinder of the revolver.

“How many of those do you have?” Janna asked incredulously.

“Too many” both responded in unison. The dopant had managed to get back to its feet during their transformation, and the masquerades line up in front of him. “So, Janna. May we have this dance?” the two Marcos said from each side of her.

“As long as I lead” She fired off a series of purple blades of energy while closing in with her steam blade. Red Phantom Thief Marco moved with incredible speed and grace. Using his cane as a weapon he quickly moved from one masquerade to the next, striking them rapidly. Blue Great Detective Marco laid his right arm over his left, steadying is aim as he fired off blasts of energy moving down the line of opponents. The three of them working as one finally broke the transformation of the masquerade, giving them a clear shot at the castle dopant.

Janna landed the first strike, sliding beneath his arm as he swung and dragging her steam blade into his side as she passed. Returning to her feet on the other side she quickly turned and called for her yellow crystals from the ground. Stabbing into him from all sides they pinned him down. “Now!” she called out, cranking her belt handle.

“Nezi Finish!” She leapt into the air while each Marco tapped their second charms. Red Marco’s cane began to glow with bright gold energy, and the end of blue Marco’s gun barrel ignited with a blue flame. Janna delivered her rider kick simultaneously with red Marco slashing through the dopant with his cane and blue Marco firing a large bullet energy construct at him. What ensued was three competing explosions, creating a massive blast wave that knocked all three riders down.

“Ugh” the Marcos groaned as they returned to their feet, recombining and cancelling their transformation. Janna untransformed while still laying there and Marco walked over to her. “You okay down there?” he offered her a hand up.

“Yeah, I’m doing great” she took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. “So you said you wanted to learn about riders?”

\-------------  
Marco took a seat an Janna’s floor while she sat on her bed. “So where do you want to begin?” Janna asked.

“I have no idea, there are so many questions I want answered.” Marco chuckled.

“Why don’t we start by sharing how we got out belts?” Janna suggested.

“Alright. So I was out with Star looking for… this actually” he produced the polaris charm “apparently one of her ancestors found it and then threw it into a portal. We wound up in some kind of horror, slasher movie dimension.”

“Really?” Janna sounded excited.

“It was terrible, we both came really close to dying.” he tried to stress the seriousness to her “I found it and it gave me the belt. I saved Star and we escaped. The other night while lying bed I sensed something and when I went to investigate it I found you.

“That’s it?”

“I mean, basically. The only other thing is that I’ve been learning about my concept charms. You know, the things I use to transform? I have a ton of them, and I can use them untransformed. I used the Baku one to help Star with a nightmare last night.”

“Visiting Star in her dreams, huh? Maybe you should come visit mine sometime.”

“You never stop do you?”

“Nope, but now it’s my turn. So it all started one night while I was hanging out in the cemetery…”

\-------------  
Janna lays on her stomach across a raised sarcophagus, idly browsing a conspiracy magazine by moonlight. On the cover is a blurry photo of Kamen Rider Kuuga. She spent many nights like this, it’s just something that felt natural to her. She was kicking her feet when she turned the page to the article about riders. Superhero bugmen, now that was far fetched even for someone who went to school with a magical princess from another world. Janna sighed. She liked said princess, Star Butterfly, she really did. Star was the latest in a long line of exchange student who lived in the Diaz household. 

She had known Marco Diaz for as long as she could remember, and for most of that time he had a crush on her other friend Jackie. Marco was too shy to ever do anything about it of course, which suited Janna just fine. It took her awhile to accept that her feelings for the boy became romantic, and truthfully she was unsure when it started. Hell it might have always been that way. Now that he was running around with Star, who Janna was sure also had a crush on Marco, the boy was finally gaining confidence. Which in turn caused Jackie to start noticing him. Janna used to think that she had all the time in the world to steal Marco’s heart, but now it was looking like a sprint to the finish line.

Janna sighed again, she hated feeling like this. Star was a magical warrior princess, Jackie was a super cool skateboarder and both of them looked a lot better than she did. She couldn't help but compare herself to her friends even though made her feel like scum. She stopped and sat up to compose herself. That was when she saw it, a swirling white portal. She saw something fall through it on the other side of the cemetery. Janna was never one to leave a strange occurrence un-investigated, and so she headed for the white hole.

When she arrived she found a strange blue buckle and a red bottle. It almost looked like the belts riders supposedly use. Then it hit her, that was exactly what this was. While she was still marvelling over her find, a group of robots fell through the portal around her. Pointing their guns at her, they gave the order to hand over the belt. She decided instead to use it.

\-------------  
“It was only a few days later when I first encountered those mewmans. I wound up going on a rider conspiracy site where I met a user called mysterypine13. Him and his sister are also a rider and their great uncle apparently knows a lot about them. They told me my belt was a sclash driver, the bottle the mahoutsukai crack fullbottle, that the mewmans were using Mewni memories, and a lot of other stuff.”

“So you learned all this from strangers on the internet?”

“No, they live over in Piedmont. We met up one weekend. They’re the real deal. They use gaia memories which are made from the memories of the earth itself. It serves to figure that mewni has memories too, and someone was using it to make mewni memories.”

“Okay, so why are they attacking?”

“Not a clue”

“Now don’t get mad, but I think we should at least ask Star about the memory thing. I know you weren’t too happy the last time I suggested it, but if we are going to fight them we need intel.”

“I know. I was just really sleep deprived and was in a bad place that night.”

“I get it. After thinking about it I can’t believe I missed how you feel. I mean, how many of my hoodies are currently in your closet?”

“I plead the fifth.”

“It was a rhetorical question Janna, you know what I mean.”

She laughed “yeah.” They both sat there quiet for a while.

“So I should…” Marco awkwardly stands an gestures as if to leave.

“Just cut and run, huh?”

“I mean Star and my parents are probably wondering where I am.” Marco had a bad feeling about this.

“Of course, safe kid Diaz wants to make sure nobody is worrying about him” Janna stood up and approached him slowly “I always thought you wanted to be a bad boy” getting uncomfortably close to Marco, she traced her finger on his chest “Sure I can’t convince you to stay?”

“Janna” Marco half choked on his words as his face turned bright red. Looking away he continued “Whatever you have in mind, we probably shouldn’t.”

“Oh? And why not?” she was leaning against his body.

“Because I… I’m really not sure how I feel about everything. I never thought about a girl other than Jackie, and I...:”

“Not even Star?”

“What?” Marco froze.

“Oh come on. The two of you are always running off together, no to mention you sleep just across the hall from each other.”

“It’s not like that” he insisted.

“Of course not, the safe kid would never.” She had him off balance, exactly where she wanted him “We don’t have to do anything. Just lay down and cuddle. How does that sound?”

“I…”

“Come on, it will be nice.” She began slowly leading him by his hoodie towards her bed “Just kick off your shoes and relax.”

He had fallen into her trap, he knew it. Of course this was why she wanted to talk at her place. He wanted to though, to lay down with her. As unsure as he felt about Janna and Jackie (and Star, though he would not admit it to himself. Especially not now), he was sure of two things. One, that Janna did care about him a lot. Albeit in her own way. And two, if his time with Star has taught him anything it’s that going along with the madness around him felt good. He would have time to feel bad about it later. He followed her to the bed, took off his shoes and laid down. She laid in front of him, allowing him to wrap one arm around her stomach and the other around her collar. She held onto both of his arms, and grinded back against him. 

“I told you it would be nice.” She cooed.

“Mhm” he responded quietly. They laid there quietly, until they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

\-------------  
“Space unicorn, Soaring through the stars, Delivering the rainbows all around the world”

Marco could hear his phone ringing. Who the hell was calling him this early? Early? Marco’s eyes shot open as he remembered it wasn’t early, it was late. He was asleep, in Janna’s bed, and people were definitely wondering where he was. Extracting one of his arms he retrieved his phone from his pocket. It was Star.

‘Click’ “hello?”

“Marco! Where have you been? You ran off this morning and no one’s heard from you!” She yelled through the phone.

“Yeah.” Marco tried and failed to stifle a yawn. “I just got distracted”

“Did you just yawn? Were you asleep?”

“No. Just, I’ll be home asap. Okay?”

“Okay” Star didn’t sound convinced “But you have some questions to answer mister.” She attempted to sound serious, but instead it made Marco giggle.

“Alright Star. See you soon.” ‘click’

Now Marco needed to completely extract himself and probably sneak past Janna’s family. As soon as he attempted to move, Janna tightened her grip on his trapped arm.

“Just a little bit longer” she said.

“Their looking for me, I really need to go.”

Janna mumbled something he couldn’t understand. “Fine” She let go and the two of them sat up. Rubbing sleep from her eye Janna spoke again “It was really nice though.”

“Yeah, it was.” Marco admitted. He was hastily putting on his shoes.

“Hey Marco?”

“What?” As Marco turned to look a her she leaned in and kissed him again. He felt like he was two Marcos again. One emotional and instinctual who was quite enjoying this, and one rational and cold who was exploding with worry about the whole thing. Red Oni, Blue Oni. Kabuto and Kuwagata. When she pulled away Marco quickly stood up. “Um. Thank you. I really did enjoy this. I’ll see you next fight probably.” Stumbling through his words he smiled at her. Red might not have been his favourite, but it always was his colour.

\-------------  
“Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why would you do that!?” Once Marco was on his own he began to berate himself for basically the entire trip home. Now he was solemnly walking up his front steps, reaching into his pocket for his keys. What he found was a charm of some sort inscribed with runes. When did she even have a chance to put it there? Returning it to its place, he fished around and just as he found his keys Star opened the door.

“Marco!” she pulled him inside “Are you okay?”

“Of course I am Star, why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s just not like you to disappear like that.”

“I’m sorry” Marco rubbed his neck “Time just got away from me, you know?”

“Alright, but don’t you dare ever do that again!” she wagged her finger in front of Marco. Just as he was about to respond, she gasped. “What is that on your neck!?” she yelled.

Marco went wide eyed and slapped his hands around his own neck. She didn’t? Did she? Marco rushed through the house, bounding up the stairs two at a time. Sliding into the bathroom he managed to shut the door just before Star could get in. Flicking on the lights and running to the mirror, he saw it. Janna actually left a hickey on his neck, what the hell? She had told him not to tell anyone. She knew he was unsure about everything with her. That he still wanted to be with Jackie. When did she even do this? Between this and the charm she had to have woke up and done stuff while he was asleep and then snuck back into the bed.

This was bad, and Star saw. How was he supposed to explain this? He pulled his phone out so fast it flew from his hands and slid across the floor. Groaning, he walked over and picked up his phone. There was a text from Janna that he hadn’t noticed.

“Like the gifts I left ya?”


	4. A Pair of Pairs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the Sesshomaru sections have been shorter than Marco's. Don't worry, that'll change. Eventually.

Sesshomaru pushed into the clinic, where he was greeted by a young woman. She had long black hair and wore a nurses uniform adorned with numerous colourful pins. She had a nametag, it read Saiba. He could sense objects of power on her person. Gashats were their name, and they spoke to him of video games and other such ideas he had no concept of. That didn’t matter though, not to him.

“Is everything alright, sir?” Nico Saiba, the current Kamen Rider Snipe, asked.

“Surrender your gashats.” he responded rudely, gesturing threateningly with his claw.

“What?” She looked at the strange man incredulously “Do you really think you intimidate me?” She quickly became confrontational.

“Wait” Kagome inserted herself in between the two “My… acquaintance isn’t feeling well. Right?” she giggled awkwardly as Nico and Sesshomaru continued to glare at each other.

“Are you fighting with a patient again?” Spoke a man with a single stripe of white hair as he entered the room. Looking out at the scene before him, Doctor Taiga Hanaya was befuddled. 

“He said he’s here to take the gashats!” Nico yelled at him and was summarily struck by the dog demon, as she hit the ground her game driver and several gashats fell from her. 

“Nico!” Taiga yelled angrily, drawing his bugvisor zwei and setting it in front of his waist. He pulled out a black and green gashat and, pointing it like a gun at Sesshomaru, pressed the button on it.

“Kamen Rider Chronicle” the small object spoke. Sesshomaru was readying his own belt as Taiga inserted the device into his belt. Activating the bugvisor it spoke again “Buggle Up! Ten wo Tsukame Rider! Kizame Chronicle! Ima koso Toki wa Kiwamareri!" A panel resembling the top of a gashat appeared above him, as it moved down him it transformed him into Kamen Rider Cronus.

Sesshomaru had transformed as well and while the two men stared each other down, Kagome moved to help Nico up. “Here, let me” She reached out and Nico pushed her away.

“Get him Taiga!”

“Hmph.” Sesshomaru disregarded the girl and took a step forward. 

“Pause” Taiga pressed a button on his bugvisor, and time came to a halt.

\-------------  
Sesshomaru regained awareness just in time to feel the effects of Cronus’s rider kick. He crashed to the ground and his transformation cancelled. It was at this point he realised he was somewhere outdoors. Growling as he rose to his feet he could see Kagome running towards him.

“What just happened?” she asked

“How am I supposed to know?” He was fuming. After examining his surroundings his face turned from pissed to worried “Where is Rin?”

“Riiiight here!” she called out from nearby, running with a number of gashats in her arms.

“Where did you get those?” Kagome asked.

“When Sesshomaru knocked over the other girl, she dropped these! I grabbed them while everyone was distracted.”

Sesshomaru smiled “Give them to me.” he spoke authoritatively. She complied with joy on her face. They were Bang Bang Shooting, Jet Combat, Bang Bang Tank, and the Bang Bang Simulations/Taddle Fantasy dual gear. A nice haul for a loss. A loss. As he looked over them in his hands Kagome realized that things were only going to get worse, Sesshomaru would not take losing to a human well.

“Let’s go” he commanded, surprising Kagome. Not that she was complaining. She certainly didn’t want to be here when they realized what happened.

\-------------  
It was late, and Kagome did the only thing she could think of: bring Sesshomaru and Rin back home to the shrine. Her family was always strangely supportive of her lifestyle, but she still worried about Sesshomaru. When they arrived at the door though, Sesshomaru told her that he was going back out. And told Rin to make sure Kagome doesn’t go running back to Inuyasha. She was unsure whether to be relieved that she wouldn’t have to introduce him to her family, or worried that he was going out alone.

\-------------  
Someone was signalling him. He was sure of it. The how and why was unclear but Sesshomaru could feel a number of transformation trinkets activating in sequence repeatedly. He made his way through the massive spires of metal and glass, remarking on the ingenuity of it all. The future truly held wonders. Eventually he came to a halt in front of one of them. He watched as two men dressed in black security outfits approached him.

One spoke “Mr. Kougami is expecting you”

\-------------  
“Subarashii!!!!” a middle aged man in a bright red suit greeted him excitedly. 

“I will admit that you’ve made me curious, human. How did you know?”

“I spent a long time trying to uncover the truth of what happened to the orange core medals. Eventually it let me to the myth of the inu daiyoukai. Specifically Sesshomaru, son of Toga, Lord of the Western Lands. It seems you acquired quite the impressive transformation driver.” the man explained. “I followed the stories to the Higurashi Shrine, and when you arrived with the young ms. Higurashi my agents informed me and I had my scientists signal you.”

“And you have done this because?”

“I, Kousei Kougami, believe that the greatest power in the world is desire. You are a man of great desire. And so I have an offer to make you.”

“An offer?” Sesshomaru was genuinely surprised.

“Yes” He gestured to a room off of the office for a man dressed in black to enter with a briefcase. Sesshomaru could feel 13 of the gold-rimmed core medals within as well as a large number of silver cell medals. “I take it you know what lies within” Kougami motioned to the case as it was placed on his desk. Sesshomaru nodded in confirmation. “The medals are yours to take, but in exchange you technically work for me. And that comes with one stipulation.”

“And what’s to stop me from just taking them and killing you?”

Kougami just smiled “You may act like you’re a monster, but I can see right through you. You’re a better man than you give yourself credit for. You like to think that by being callous and cruel that it makes you a better yokai. But you’ve seen it before, in your father and brother. Your heart makes you stronger.”

Sesshomaru quickly seized the executive by the neck “Are you willing to bet your life on that?”

“You’ve seen it in yourself” Kougami choked out “protecting Rin.”

The demon released the man at the mention of Rin’s name. Turning away, Sesshomaru growled. He didn’t care about the child. He didn’t need anyone else to be strong. His thoughts turned to his journey with Rin and Jaken. Good memories. Happy memories. “Dammit” he hissed under his breath. Composing himself he turned back to address the man, only to find him standing behind his desk. On the desk the case sat open, with a freshly baked cake sitting next to it. 

The cake had white frosting with red trim and golden letters which read “Happy Birthday Kamen Rider Oh (King)!” Sesshomaru looked up from the cake to the businessman.

“A suitable name for a belt with the power to rule other belts, no?”

“I didn’t accept the offer yet.”

“Haven’t you?”

The man’s hubris was wearing on the demon, but at the same time he found it funny. He just had his claws around this man’s throat and already he was acting like he was in control. “Fine. What is this “stipulation”?”

“Simple, follow your heart’s true desire.” he grinned wickedly “Now, happy birthday kamen rider oh!”

\-------------  
Kagome was having breakfast with her family and Rin when she heard the roar of a motorcycle. It was a rare sound around the shrine, and when she heard a knock on the door she was suddenly panicked. She had seen articles about riders on the internet, knew people at school who were obsessed with them. The moniker of “rider” had come from their propensity for motorcycles. Where he would of got one she had no clue, but she knew it was him

“Oh, I’ll get it!” she jumped from her seat and rushed to the door, leaving her family with confused expressions. Opening the door she saw it was indeed Sesshomaru. He was wearing a new suit, one that seemed tailored to him. The pants and jacket were white and the jacket had red semi-floral print like that of his kimono. The shirt was the same indigo of the moon mark on his forehead. His hair was better styled; it was wavy and in a partial ponytail with a single braid running along the side of his face. She was shocked at his appearance. 

“Are you going to let me in, woman?” He barked, and Kagome’s mind was pulled back to earth. This was still Sesshomaru.

“Wait.” She looked around “Didn’t I hear you ride up on a motorcycle?”

He nodded and gestured to a nearby vending machine. Was that always there? Kagome was confused but decided not to question it any further. She shrugged an let him in. Rin heard him and was already running up to them.

“Where did you get those clothes?” she asked.

“Yeah, what happened last night?” Kagome added.

“I was given an offer by Kousei Kougami.” he produced several of the new core medals “I accepted.”

“Wait. Kousei Kougami. One of the richest men in the country, no the world, gave you those coins and that suit?”

“That’s what I said isn’t it?” He responded aggressively.

Holding her hands up in surrender “yes.” she squeaked “it’s just strange, isn’t it?”

“Hardly. Even in this day and age he knew the legends of my father and I. He was expecting me.”

“That’s even stranger!” Kagome exclaimed. He glared at her in response.

“Umm…” Kagome’s younger brother Sota stood there in his school uniform staring at the three of them “What’s going on?”

“Oh, we were just leaving” Kagome began shoving Sesshomaru through the door “Come along Rin”

\-------------  
“We’re going where!?” Kagome yelled, drawing the attention of numerous strangers as the three made their way across town. She was yelling a lot these days it seemed. She really wished she had a spare rosary to put on Sesshomaru, it would at least make her feel better.

“Like I said, we are going to Osaka. Kougami has informed me of a facility there owned “Smart Brain” that has more of what I seek. Our train tickets have already been procured.”

“What’s a train?” Rin asked.

Kagome took a deep breath “It’s like a giant carriage that moves really fast.” it was the best she could come up with on the spot. Thankfully Rin responded with a thoughtful “ooh” and didn’t ask for more. “And you seem to be adapting to the modern world pretty easily.” She remarked bitterly at Sesshomaru “Are you sure you even still need me?”

“Yes. Without Jaken, Rin needs someone with her”

“Well what about…” She trailed off as the meaning of Sesshomaru’s words clicked into place. He cared about Rin. Of course he did, Kagome already knew that, why else was she still there. But the fact that he was apparently unwilling to leave her behind meant something more, and she guessed that was a decent reason for her to continue on with them.

\------------  
The interior of the bullet train was quite nice. Rin sat by the window, which meant she was stuck next to Sesshomaru for the whole ride. Two plus hours. She was unsure whether she preferred him silent or if she wished he would talk. It was weird because as much as she didn’t want to be here, she was. And if they were stuck travelling together it was only going to get harder if they couldn’t talk. So she finally decided it was worth a shot.

“Hey Sesshomaru?”

“What?” he sounded annoyed, but Kagome was beginning to understand that it was just how he always sounded.

“I was just wondering if your enjoying your time here? I mean I know it’s only been like two days but…”

“It’s interesting” he responded, surprising Kagome “The architecture, the people, the lights and sounds. I’ve never imagined anything like it. It is simultaneously humbling and exciting. I look forward to discovering more of it.”

Kagome was even more surprised now. Did he really say humbling? She probably shouldn’t comment on that. “Well, it’s different having grown up here. To me the feudal era seems amazing. So calm and serene. It’s simpler there.”

He chuckled “Perhaps you belong there, and I here”

“I don’t know about that. Although I guess working for the Kougami Foundation is a really prestigious job. Maybe you’re right.” She looked at him an his face suddenly turned sour, well more sour than usual. He was eyeing a passing train conductor. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure” they watched as he led another passenger out of sight “I’m going to see” He immediately left his seat and hurried after them. 

“Wait. Don’t just.” Kagome tried to stop him but he was already gone.

\-------------  
Sesshomaru entered the small “room” between two cars and found exactly what he was expecting. The other passenger was dead on the floor, and the conductor was replaced with a monster. He appeared to be wearing black leather, with brown leather straps in the pattern of a spider across its chest. Its head resembled a white skull with eight spidery legs extending from it. It quickly turned and looked at the interloper.

“Bad luck, huh?” the spider monster remarked.

“For you” Sesshomaru shot back. He drew his driver and quickly transformed “Henshin!”

“Ooh, a new rider huh? The bosses will love when I haul your corpse in”

“Funny. There won’t be a corpse left when I’m done with you.” Sesshomaru opened with a right hook, which the spider deftly dodged. He delivered a high kick which flowed directly into as sweep, both once again evaded. The spider retaliated by firing sticky webs at Kamen Rider Oh, sticking him to a wall. 

“What was that you were saying?” it taunted.

“Hmph. Don’t presume, weakling” he melted through some of the web with acid from his right hand before tearing through the rest. “If that was your trump card, you are even more pitiful than I thought.”

It was the spider’s turn to take swings at his opponent, who in turn dodged them as well. Standing opposite of each other, Sesshomaru drew a set of core medals. He inserted them into his changed belt: a purple centipede one, a yellow bee one and a gray ant one.

“Mukade, Hachi, Ari! Muhari!” A purple centipede appeared across the face and top of his helmet, extending past it like a ponytail. A honeycomb shield appeared on his left arm and a stinger extended from his right. Grey armour panels resembling giant ants appeared on his shins, their insectoid legs wrapping around his.

The spider was stepping backwards, away from Sesshomaru. It had no advantages in this confined a space, and it knew that. Sesshomaru closed in quickly, but when the Spider readied to block his stinger he instead delivered a kick enhanced with the strength of an ant. It sent him flying into a wall, which he bounced off flying back towards Sesshomaru who caught him by the throat. Just then the door to the inbetween area opened and another conductor looked in, catching the attention of both combatants. The conductor looked back and forth between them before nodding and backing out slowly.

Sesshomaru and the spider then looked back at each other. The centipede “ponytail” swung over his head and bit the spider’s neck. Sesshomaru threw him to the floor, then stomped on him with ant strength. As the spider laid on the ground writhing, Sesshomaru scanned his medals again. Three rings appeared in the limited space as energy flowed into his stinger blade. He then struck the spider with incredible speed before quickly moving away.

Before the spider died it proclaimed one last thing “Glory to Shocker!” then burst in a small explosion.

\------------  
Returning to his seat untransformed he was greeted immediately by an annoyed sounding Kagome. Was this woman ever happy? How did his brother manage travelling with her? Luckily for her, he needed someone to watch after Rin. “It was nothing” he simply stated, blocking out her response. They could not arrive in Osaka fast enough.

\------------  
“So where is this place?” Kagome asks, turning to see Sesshomaru on a smartphone of some sort “where did you get that?”

“Kougami.” he thumbed through the device. Although young by yokai standards he was still hundreds of years old, but unlike many other long lived beings he always kept track of the times. He was adaptable, something others so often lacked. So figuring out modern society and technology was simple for him, helped out by the fact that he could access the internet with this device. Kougami had explained the basics to him and from there it was easy.

Bringing up a document Kougami’s people had sent him, he showed the phone to Kagome. “It’s beneath the science and art museum? Like in a comic book?”

“It would appear so” he returned the phone to his pocket. Rin was bouncing about in excitement.

“Hey Sesshomaru?”

“What is it now?”

“Do you think we should do something nice for Rin? Like go to the Zoo?”

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at this “the what?”

“You know, like a menagerie? A place to see exoitc animals? She’ll love it. I’ll be fun.”

He thought about it. He had intended to head directly for this “Smart Brain” facility. He wasn’t here for fun. Looking over at his young companion climbing on a nearby bench he felt something he didn’t quite understand. Maybe doing something like this would be good for Rin. And good for keeping Kagome appeased. “Fine. It may be easier to enter the facility after dark anyway”

\------------  
Arriving at Tennoji park Rin shook with excitement. She was usually afraid of other humans, but these future people seemed different. Maybe it was their weird clothes. Maybe she was just too distracted by the wonder of it all. Regardless she was happy. She made her way through the open lawn, surrounded by beautiful flowers. Kagome and Sesshomaru walked the path around while watching the girl play.

“You really do care about Rin, huh?” Kagome asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he swiftly responded.

“Come on, you don’t have be like that. It’s alright to admit you care about others. It’s kinda cute honestly.”

Sesshomaru took a deep breath. Why did humans insist on talking about these things? “What do you mean cute?” 

“Huh?” Kagome slowly turned red “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that, you act so aloof all the time. But it’s nice to know that deep down you aren’t, you know, heartless.”

“Heartless, eh?” He thought back to Kougami’s words “You humans put a lot of stock in this “heart’.”

“Well yeah. Don’t tell me you don’t understand it.”

“I’m not sure” he admitted, looking over at Rin “but I do know that it is important.”

\-------------  
Evening had fallen, the three having stopped somewhere to eat. A small american style diner, Kagome figured they might enjoy something new. She even convinced Sesshomaru to order a cheeseburger, which he seemed to be enjoying thoroughly.

“So Rin, did you enjoy the zoo?” She asked the little girl.

“Mhm” she nodded while stuffing her face with french fries “thank you Kagome. Thank you lord Sesshomaru”

Sesshomaru didn’t appear to acknowledge the thanks and continued to eat. Kagome sat across from them, and was in the process of attempting to read his facial expression. She truly couldn’t tell if he had heard Rin or not. He suddenly jerked his head, shooting a glare at a group of older women across the restaurant.

“What’s wrong now?” Kagome asked.

“The old gossipers, I can hear them speaking. They think Rin is our child and are speaking rudely. Seems some things never change.”

Kagome blushed hard at what he had said. “What?”

“Yes. Perhaps I should teach them a lesson?”

“No no no no no.” Kagome waved her hands “It’s fine.” She looked over at them and then back to Sesshomaru “What do you mean “Some things never change”?”

“Old women judging and gossiping. Even in the feudal period every village has hags like them.”

Kagome had to stifle a laugh “That’s a rather rude thing to say too.” 

He responded with a light chuckle “Perhaps you are too forgiving”

“Yeah, probably” she answered. It seemed more and more that he was surprisingly human.

\------------  
Kagome and Rin were staying in a hotel room, once again arranged by Kougami. Sesshomaru found himself standing outside of the Osaka Science Museum/National Museum of Art, the latter of which was subterranean which meant his goal was beneath that. Pulling out his Absol Driver with his fake arm, he placed it on his waist. “Henshin!” he flicked the toggle and transformed. Quickly he drew both the shinobi miridewatch and blood orange lockseed. He loaded the watch into its slot and folded it into place. In the center of his belt formed a lockseed slot and cutting knife. He clipped the lockseed in its place and pushed the knife, slicing it open. His scarf once again became purple, with purple cloth wrapping his forearms and shins, a shuriken pattern formed on his chest and two crossed kunai resembling antennae appeared on his helmet. Then a zipper appeared in the sky, opening to reveal a portal to helheim. A large metallic blood orange came through and landed on his head. It unfolded, forming a chestplate and sode pauldrons. His helmet changed, becoming more like a traditional kabuto than the jagged thing it was before. It was likewise blood coloured, with a red crescent crest. The kunai antenna remained, flanking the crest.

Approaching the building, Sesshomaru used the miridewatch’s powers to hide himself. Finding a maintenance entrance, he summoned his ninjato and used it to crack the door open. Slipping in, he quickly made his way downward through the stark hallways used by museum staff. He was beginning to feel the energy of what he sought and so pressed ever onward. Eventually he came to halt in the middle of an empty hallway. Through the eyes of his rider form he was able to detect something strange. Approaching the stone wall, he ran his hand across it. He couldn’t quite tell what it was, but clearly something was hidden behind this wall. Drawing out the musou saber provided by the blood orange lockseed, he stabbed into the wall and dragged the blade down its height. Extracting the weapon he delivered a kick, breaking the wall and revealing an empty elevator shaft.

Sesshomaru sighed when the alarms began to blare. There were still details and nuances he needed to learn, but for now instinct would have to do. He leapt into the shaft without hesitation, dropping down onto the top of an elevator far below. Opening the hatch on the top he was greeted by a number of bronze armoured figures pointing guns which had bronze blades running along their barrel at him. 

“Freeze” a computer modulated voice ordered him. 

Now this was his element “Make me” he dropped down into them while drawing his orange slice-like daidaimaru blade and ninjato. In the close quarters, it was a massacre. His enemies had not expected him to face them head on, and as he sliced through them they had no chance to switch their weapons from gun mode to blade mode. As Sesshomaru cut a bloody swath through them, they each fell and untransformed leaving many black suited men lying on the floor. Examining their belts, they were folding metal plates labelled “Smart Brain V2”. They were useless to him, so he destroyed each of them. 

Continuing on he found this lower area was highly technological, with screens all over the place. Slowly he made his way through the facility, eventually sensing what he came for on the other side of a pair of large metal doors.

“Hey you” he heard someone call out in an unfamiliar language. Turning around he saw a young man wearing a black sleeveless shirt with a pair of dog tags around his neck. Behind him stood a number of men in black suits, sunglasses and fedoras. 

Sesshomaru returned the ninjato and redrew the musou saber again. “I don’t know what language you speak, but if you can understand me you should run. Beating you guys has been boring so far.”

“Oh, you talk a big game” the young man responded in japanese “But can you live up to it?” He slung a silver belt around his waist and drew a flip phone. It was silver and had a purple disc on the back. He flipped it open an typed.

“Standing by” the phone announced. Meanwhile the black suited men equipped bronze plated belts.

“Henshin!” The man and his allies called out simultaneously as he inserted the phone into his belt and turned it sideways. Blue liquid flowed from the belt in veins around him, before in a flash of light he was covered in white armour. His chest and helmet both bore purple spheres in them. 

“Complete” his belt announced, and the men behind him turned into bronze armoured figures like those from before. 

“It’s showtime” the white armoured rider announced in english. The bronze ones fanned out to surround Sesshomaru, a tactic he expected. It was the best use of their superior numbers since they were so weak. He moved to intercept, connecting the daidaimaru and musou saber at their pommels. He swung the two-ended weapon fluidly, its edges making sparks where they connected with enemies. The white armoured rider came in and took a swing at Sesshomaru from behind, Sesshomaru ducked the blow and managed to get a swipe with the musou saber’s blade on the way. The other bronze individuals were aiming their weapons, trying to get a bead on the rapidly moving kamen rider oh. With a hand gesture, Sesshomaru let loose a gout of purple flames which split the group in two, the flames separating most of the bronze figures from Sesshomaru and the white rider. 

“Clever. But not clever enough” the other rider still spoke in english, drawing a pair of tonfa.

“I still can’t understand you. What kind of idiot taunts his opponents in a language they can’t understand?” he retorted while the two of them circled, sizing each other heart. The two closed in an began taking swings with their weapons, each being quickly blocked by the other. This wore on even as the flames faded, the bronze ones standing back and watching. The two riders locked their weapons together, struggling to disarm the other. One of the weaker warriors put his weapon into blade mode and moved in behind Sesshomaru. He raised the blade and just before he could bring it down, it was shot from his hands.

All of the combatants looked at the source of the shot, a new arrival. It was a young man in a black coat and black gloves, still holding his flip-phone/gun pointed at the crowd. He smiled, spinning the phone around and dialling.

“Five, Five, Five. Standing by” the phone announced as he equipped a silver belt. Placing the phone into the belt and folding it over he calls out.

“Henshin!” red fluid flowed from his belt, like the blue from the other rider’s. Then in a flash e was wearing black armour with silver plates and a yellow visor which was split by intersecting red lines.

“Faiz!” The white armoured one called out, drowning out the belt’s announcement of complete. He was still locked into place with Sesshomaru, but his attention was splitting. Sesshomaru took the opportunity to pull the musou saber’s trigger and unleash a full clip of energy shots into his opponent. Stepping away from his stumbling opponent, Kamen Rider Oh moved to stand alongside Kamen Rider Faiz.

“Nice to meet ya” Faiz greeted Oh “I’m Kamen Rider Faiz.”

“I’m Kamen Rider Oh.” Sesshomaru sniffed the air “You smell like a wolf.”

“Ehhh? How did you?” Faiz exclaimed.

“Later, for now” Sesshomaru drew the bang bang shooting gashat “We need to deal with them.” He inserted the gashat into the slot that formed next to the lockseed. He then flipped the lever that formed in front of it twice.

“Bang Bang Shooting! Level Up!” the belt announced. A yellow-green hair like formation hung over the left side of is visor, a matching cloak hung over his left shoulder and the “face” of bang bang shooting’s level one form appeared on his back. He held the musou saber-daidaimaru in is right and and the gashacon magnum gun in is left.

“Seems like the party is really getting started” the enemy rider called out in english. He then gestured for the lesser enemies to charge the two riders. Faiz ran out to meet them, exchanging blows with the first two he encountered. Oh opened fire with his magnum as he slowly moved toward the group. Once he was in close quarters he used the magnum to block as he sliced through his enemies. 

The white armoured man, once again wielding his tonfas, moved in on Oh. Once again they began taking turns attacking and parrying, this time with Sesshomaru pepering shots from the magnum. They danced around each other, attempting to find the opening they needed. Meanwhile Faiz was being overwhelmed by his foes. Extracting himself from them he retrieved his axel watch, strapping it to his arm. The red lines on his armour turned silver, the visor on his helmet turned red and his chestplate split and rotated to cover his shoulders revealing circuitry and a red core. Pressing a switch on the axel watch it spoke “Start up”.

In a flash the bronze warriors lay defeated on the ground, catching the white warrior’s attention. This gave Sesshomaru another opening and he delivered a deep slash into his foe. “You are too easily distracted” Sesshomaru commented. 

“Damn you two!” he called out. Sesshomaru drew the Bang Bang Tank gashat and loaded it into his gashacon magnum while Faiz pulled the phone from his belt and entered another code.

“Exceed Charge” Faiz’s belt announced.  
“Bang Bang Critical Finish!” Oh’s gun announced.

A holographic tank formed around Sesshomaru and fires a massive blast of energy at his target. On the opposite side Faiz fired off a drill of red energy from his anklet which dug into the white rider before delivering a kick directly into the drill. The white armoured rider fell to his knees before collapsing, his transformation cancelling and his belt falling off. Faiz cancelled his transformation and Sesshomaru followed suit.

The two untransformed Riders approached each other, Faiz speaking first “Hi. I’m Takumi Inui.”

“Sesshomaru. Why are you here?”

“To shut down this facility. The same as you, right?”

“More or less.” Sesshomaru replied, walking over to their defeated foe. He picked up the flip phone and crushed it in his hand. Opening his hand he allowed the crumbled pieces to fall, leaving only a small blue-ish purple metallic card key: the psyga mission memory.

“What are you doing?” Takumi asked.

“Retrieving one of the things I came for. There’s something else behind those doors.” he gestured towards the two metal doors.

“Alright” he eyed Sesshomaru warily. Walking over to the doors Takumi reached out to open them, only for them to open of their own accord. 

“Come in” a female voice calls out from within the next room.

“Oh no” Takumi groaned “You, really?” He entered the room, a lab of some sort, and found a woman in a baby blue dress bearing the Smart Brain logo. 

“Must you always be so rude?” She comments to Faiz. Turning to Sesshomaru as he enters the room “My boss would like to speak with you”

“Another one?” Sesshomaru snickers “Let’s hear it then”

Three holographic faces form in the room, two of them fading away before the third turns black. “Hello Sesshomaru”

“I know that voice!” Takumi calls out

“I do as well” Sesshomaru remarks “Susanoo, I thought my father destroyed you”

“So many have tried” The voice retorts “But I can never truly die”

“I’ve heard that before, it just means I’ll get the chance to enjoy killing you myself” Sesshomaru replies

“It seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I was so hoping you would be reasonable.”

“Wait” Takumi interjects. “”You’re the Great Leader of Shocker. You’re also behind Smart Brain? And why did he call you Susanoo?”

“I have had many names.” Susanoo answers “and I shall always there, when there are those who would seek to eradicate humanity”

“You’re a weakling and a coward who has always hidden behind his lackeys” Sesshomaru replies.

“How you disappoint me Sesshomaru. Morpho?” he calls.

“Yes, Great Leader” the woman answers

“Destroy them”

“Yes sir.” She quickly wrapped a black and gold belt around her waist and drew a matching flip phone as the holographic face faded. “Don’t worry, this will be over quick” she chimed.

“Nine. One. Three. Error” the phone responds to her input. Se grumbled and tried again “Three. One. Five. Error” She huffed at the phone. Takumi and Sesshomaru exchanged a quick look. As Sesshomaru approached her she typed in one last sequence “Zero. Zero. Zero. Standing by.”

“I did it!” She cheered when suddenly Sesshomaru grasped the phone and pulled it from her hand. He crushed it like the previous one, leaving only the Orga Mission Memory. The woman looked as if she was about to cry.

“She’s all yours” Sesshomaru called out, quickly turning and leaving.

\-------------  
It was after midnight when Kagome woke up to the sound of the hotel door opening. Sesshomaru walked in, talking on his phone with someone.

“It’s done. I left it in the hands of Takumi Inui.” he spoke into the receiver.

“Subarashi!” a loud, boisterous voice boomed from the other side, loud enough for Kagome to hear and to cause Sesshomaru to flinch away from the phone.

“Yes.” he quickly regained his composure “There’s something else, but I’ll tell you in the morning. Goodbye” he clicked end before Kougami could reply. Turning to look over the room, he saw Kagome sitting up and looking at him. “Sorry if I woke you”

“No, it’s alright. I can be a light sleeper. I take it things went well?” She asked.

“Yes.” he began undoing his suit jacket and button up “I acquired two “mission memories” and learned that an old foe of my father’s yet lives. I will enjoy hunting him down.”

“That’s...good?” Kagome responded. Sesshomaru hung up his clothes, leaving him in an undershirt. He began undoing his slacks which caused Kagome to blush and look away “What are you doing?” she quietly yelled.

“Relax, I’m wearing boxers. I’ve learned a lot about modern clothing. It’s all very comfortable.” He laid on the king sized bed with Rin in between him and Kagome.

“That’s still not… whatever” she simply laid back down looking away from him. 

Sesshomaru let out a heavy sigh “Would you still be bothered if I was my brother?”

“What? Of course I would be” She angrily responded.

“Sure. Whatever you tell yourself.” he chuckled and laid his head back. “Goodnight”

After a few moments Kagome replied “Goodnight”


	5. The Pentacle

“What the hell, Janna?” Marco typed on his phone. He couldn’t believe she did this. Well, he could. He was just beyond pissed.

“What? I felt like marking my territory.” Janna texted back.

“Your territory? We’re not together Janna. And what happened to don’t tell anybody?”

“You were fine with cuddling and kissing. Besides, you can just excuse it as a bruise from fighting, right?”

Marco was fuming “I told you I don’t know how I feel. Plus Star saw before I did, you waited to send that text on purpose didn’t you?”

“Maybe I did. So what? You’re not going to make an actual decision anytime soon, I know you. You always need a little “push”.”

“Janna. This isn’t cool. You can’t just make my decisions for me. You know how hard I’ve worked to get Jackie to notice me. Do you really expect me to give up at the drop of a hat?”

“You’re the one who is always trying to think everything through before doing. Well think about this: Jackie isn’t the girl for you, the sooner you realise that the better. You have her on this pedestal and don’t really know anything about her. I know nearly everything about the both of you, so trust me.”

He knew she was right about him not “knowing” Jackie, but he was honestly too angry to care “If you really cared about me, you wouldn’t do stuff like this. You’re manipulating me and trying to force me to be with you.”

“I am, I’ll admit it. But I’m the better one for you. You’ll wise up. See you next fight! <3”

“Hey. You can’t just decide this conversation is over!” he sent one last text, but after a few minutes it was clear Janna wasn’t going to reply. Now, he had to face Star.

\------------  
“Star?” Marco opened her door slowly. Her room was dark, which confused him until someone pushed him into the room. “What are you doing?” he called out as Star sat him down on a stool in the dark. She shined a light from her wand directly into his face, causing him to wince and shield his eyes.

“I’ll be the one asking questions here.” She tried emulate the voice of a detective in the movies “Where have you been tonight, Mr.Diaz?”

“This isn’t necessary Star.”

“That’s Detective Butterfly to you, perp. Now answer the question”

If he told Star, what were the odds she would be able to keep it secret? Not very good he figured. Everything was going too fast, what was he supposed to do. Did he even want to keep Janna’s secret right now though? Of course he did, she was his friend. She was doing what she thought was right, even if it was self serving. He wiped his hand across his face, this was a dangerous situation. Why couldn’t this be the kind of problem he could punch his way out of? Welp, here goes nothing.

“Star. It’s complicated. Like really complicated, and I promised not to tell anyone.’

“I told you it’s Detetive Butterfly” she bonked him on the head with her wand.

“Come on, stop this. I’m serious. I have a lot to think about, and I really don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” He sat there in silence for a few seconds before Star turned on the light.

“Sure you can’t tell your bestie?”

“I’m sorry.” Marco stood up to leave

“You know, I saw Jackie today.” she looked away “We mostly talked about how worried she is about Janna, but we did talk about you too.”

Marco gulped, a tight knot of guilt forming in his gut.

“She seemed like she might be interested in you.”

Marco remained silent.

“If you want me to say something, or not, you can tell me”

He breathed a heavy sigh “It’s not that simple, not anymore. I wish it was. I wish I could tell you “yes, please help set me up with Jackie” but I can’t right now.” He rubbed his arm “This is a Marco problem. I need to solve it on my own.” He headed for the door, Star grabbing his arm as he stood on the threshold.

“Marco, I’m worried about you. You really helped me deal with what happened, but you haven’t said anything about how you’re handling it. We still haven’t talked about your transformation or any of that, and now this. I need to know if you’re alright.”

“I can’t tell you if I’m alright because I don’t know. I am handling the whole nearly dying and transforming better than I probably should, the problems I’m having are from here on earth. I’m sorry Star. Really sorry. More sorry than I’ve ever been.” he replied and she let her own arm drop. Then he left, closing and locking his door behind him.

\-------------  
Once again Marco found himself lying awake in his bed. As he lay there he couldn’t help but think about how nice it was falling asleep next to Janna. He would freely admit that she was right about him having Jackie on a pedestal, and Janna may even be right about him no ever being able to make a real decision. That still doesn’t excuse the way she’s acting, and it definitely doesn’t mean she can just claim him as hers. 

He grabbed his pillow and screamed into it. “What am even I doing?” he spoke aloud to himself. It was a saturday night an he wanted to be anywhere in the world other than Echo Creek. Anywhere in the multiverse. He reached out through his other self, eventually finding the perfect charm. The Walker of Worlds: an eight spoked wheel adorned with runes. Marco recognized the symbol from one of Janna’s books on the occult. His mind drifted back to Janna. At first the thoughts were happy and nice, but it only took him a moment to remember what just transpired and for his anger to return. He needed to go. Whereas Polaris guided him home, this would allow him to travel anywhere. He didn’t care where. Focusing on the charm he summoned another shimmering metal wall, a dimensional wall. He stepped through, ready to face whatever awaited him on the other side. It had to be better than wallowing in his own misery.

\------------  
For her part, Star wasn’t taking it well either. Though she, like Marco, wouldn't admit to any feelings for her bestie, she was still upset at the whole charade. Something was wrong and he wouldn’t tell her. She was at a loss, unsure of what to do. She was never good at this kind of thing, preferring problems she could punch her way out of. A trait shared between her and Marco. One thing she was sure of was that she would not be getting to sleep anytime soon. Walking up to her mirror she activated its magic.

“Call Pony Head” she commanded.

‘Click’ “Eeey Girl! What’s up? You don’t look so good. Do I need to come there an beat up earth turd?”

Star giggled, she could always count on Pony Head having her back “No. But I am in dire need of a girls night.”

“Oh heck yeah Star. We’re going to paint the multiverse red tonight! Give me a second to get ready.”

Smiling Star turned to get ready herself. There must be something out there to make her feel better.

\-------------  
Exiting the portal Marco found himself in an unfamiliar dimension, a valley made of purple stone. Massive ravens adorned the numerous dead trees around him. He could sense something up ahead, not that he needed his other self’s senses to notice something was going on. The sounds of battle vibrated the area, to which Marco smiled. “Henshin.” he calmly announced.

“Seek your own Truth! The Walker of Worlds!” He activated the charm with his transformation, which drained the “fuel” container on his chest halfway. His normal form now bore a long hooded jacket of pearlescent white. His antennae were replaced with silver horns, extending up from between his eyes it bore a smaller tine in the center with two longer ones on the sides. A bandolier of pouches resembling the one on his leg appeared, additional pouches hung from his belt and another two were wrapped around his left bicep. Around his neck he bore a red and purple keffiyeh-style scarf.

Following the sounds of combat Marco eventually came to a clearing in the trees. There a he found vaguely familiar woman with white skin, long red hair, a pair of horns with a small flame floating between them, spines extending from her forearms and wearing a black tiara and yellow dress. She was battling a group of black clad men, their armour bearing a skeleton pattern with a single red pauldron and wearing a belt with a large buckle depicting a silver three headed eagle. The woman was using some form of fire magic to fight against her foes, who were in turn attempting to close the distance to utilise their kukri blades.

“Perfect” Marco said to himself “Hey freaks! Let’s Dance!” he shouted towards the battle. Several of the black warriors turned their attention to him. Marco approached them calmly, his arms open wide in a “come at me” gesture. 

They ran towards him swinging their weapons while shouting “Yee!”, he swiftly dodged to the side and delivered a rapid series of blows to the first of his enemies. When he finished with a heavy kick, is target went flying an exploded upon impact with the ground. Marco looked down and regarded his fists. Shrugging, he charged back in and beat down three more of these enemies, all of whom exploded. He doubted it was this particular charm, instead figuring they were simply incredibly volatile. He turned to see a massive fireball, leaving only him and the woman, now surrounded by scorch marks, standing in the field.

“Heya!” Marco called out and approached the woman “What was that all about?”

“Magic high commision business” She responded “You?”

“Me? Oh! I just came here because I needed to blow off some steam. I lucked out and ran into you.”

“Lucky you. Let me guess, girl troubles?”

“How did you know?”

“You seem the type. Although, I could use some muscle like you for this mission.”

“Muscle?” Marco looked down at his inhuman body “Sure thing lady. What’s your name?”

“Hekapoo. You?”

“I’m…” Marco thought for a moment. Janna said she was the rider Psycho Wizard. Maybe he should use a rider name as well. “You can call me Red.”

“Sure thing muscles. Now come on, we have some scissors to find.”

\-------------  
Star and Pony Head were dancing in the Scum Bucket, one of the best dance clubs in the multiverse. It lay in an underwater dimension and so they found themselves surrounded by merpeople and various other fishy folk. With the notable exception of an attractive asian boy sitting at the bar with an older man.

“I still don’t get why you dragged me here, Tsukasa.” The younger man spoke harshly.

“It’s your sixteenth birthday Nobuhiko. Since your father doesn’t approve of your life decisions, it’s not like he was going to do anything for you. I thought it would be nice to take you out to see the multiverse. Meet some people your own age and party it up.” Tsukasa responded

“So you brought me to a fish dimension?”

“What about the blonde in the teal dress?”

“The one dancing with the floating unicorn head?” Nobuhiko asked incredulously.

“Why not. Live a little. You have your whole life to be a Century King, but your only young once. Now smile!” Tsukasa pulled out his trusty camera and took a quick shot of Nobuhiko.

Nobuhiko appreciated what his self-proclaimed “uncle” was trying to do. When he became the new Shadow Moon, his father, Kohtaro Minami, basically disowned him. What did he expect though, literally naming him after the last Shadow Moon. It’s not like he’s using his powers for evil, he was a Rider and he was rebuilding Golgom to be a force for good. That’s what he wanted to be doing right now, but Tsukasa snatched him up and without the ability to create dimensional walls on his own he was stuck.

Accepting that this was is fate, Nobuhiko got up and began dancing across the floor towards Star Butterfly. He had fluffy, medium length black hair and wore a silver collared shirt tucked into black jeans. On his feet were motorcycle boots, not exactly ideal for dancing but he could manage. Pony Head was the first to notice Nobuhiko’s approach, and gestured towards him. Star looked and the young man shot her a smile back. It was a girl’s night out she figured, and decided to take a chance. 

Tsukasa watched his “nephew” from his seat, snapping pictures and occasionally drinking from a glass with tiny umbrellas in it. The kid was doing his best, both tonight and in general, but his father was afraid of him becoming like his actual uncle, the prior Shadow Moon who was also named Nobuhiko. Tsukasa really wanted Nobuhiko to be able to enjoy himself, it can’t be easy being born into the world of riders. He had seen it before, in Kamen Riders Shiin, New Den-O and White Ghost. Of the three only New Den-O wasn’t messed up in the head.

Nobuhiko looked over at Tsukasa from the dance floor, receiving a thumbs up from the elder rider. Once he turned his attention back to the beautiful blonde in front of him, Tsukasa took the opportunity to slip away through a dimensional wall. His nephew could get a ride home from the girl.

\-------------  
Marco, Kamen Rider Red, and Hekapoo made their way across the desolate dimension. Marco could feel his “fuel” refilling faster than before. He was acclimating to his powers already, a testament to the quality of his transformation driver. He felt comfortable in this body, and he rather enjoyed the additional height. As for their destination, Hekapoo was using some kind of sensor to search for the missing scissors while Marco used his Kaijin sense to feel out for enemies. Their readings gave them a single heading, deep into the sea of dead trees. Mist coiled around their feet, their environs illuminated by an unseen moon.

“So what are their names?” Hekapoo asked suddenly

“Huh? Oh, right.” Marco thought carefully about what he was going to say “Jackie, Janna and Star.”

“And what’s the problem?”

“It’s.. complicated.”

“No shit, muscles. Of course it is.”

“I know. It’s like, I’ve always wanted to be with Jackie. For as long as I can remember really. And I’m finally getting my chance.”

“And the problem is?

“Janna has been both of our friends for just as long, and I just found out she has feeling for me. I’ve always been so focused on Jackie, I never noticed Janna’s feelings. And now that I do know, she’s being really pushy and manipulative about it.”

“And.. what was the third one? Star?”

“Star is like my best friend and we recently went through some rough stuff together. She’s worried about me acting strange, which is because of everything with Janna but I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone. And now Star’s upset and I feel trapped between my long time crush and one of my oldest friends. And all of this has been over the course of like four days.”

“A rough week then?”

“Gee thanks, H-Poo” Marco replies sarcastically.

“Don’t call me that.” She replies indignantly “Look kid, which one do you like better?”

“That’s the problem; I’m not sure. With Janna, she’s always driven me up the walls with her antics but now I can see it was because she was trying to ge me to pay her the attention I payed Jackie. And with Jackie, I don’t really know her that well but I finally have the opportunity to do so.” Marco let out a deep sigh. “I just don’t know what to do.”

“Alright, I’m going to give you a little advice. You’re always going to regret not doing something more than doing it. If you don’t go for something you will always have that “what if?” in your head. Right?”

“Okay. That still doesn’t tell me which to pick.”

“That’s because you’re overthinking it. You said Janna wants to be with you right?”

“Yeah.”

“And that you don’t know Jakie that well but have the opportunity?”

“Uh huh”

“Getting to know Jackie doesn’t preclude being with Janna, an in the process you can learn which you would really rather be with. It’s as simple as that.”

“But what…”

“Nuh uh uh.” Hekapoo interrupts, putting a finger to Marco’s lips “Don’t. Over. Think. It.”

“Okay. And what am I supposed to do about Star?”

“You’re really not good with the whole girl thing are you?” Hekapoo laughed.

“I guess not. I’m sorry for asking for help, you don’t even know me after all.”

“Hey I volunteered my advice, there’s no reason to say sorry. So for Star, chances are after you talk to Janna she’ll let you tell her. If not… how much magic can you use?”

“Magic? I don’t know, it’s mostly my charms” Marco tapped the one in his chest, his fuel had refilled to about three quarters. “I’m not sure if I could even do magic on my own”

“Well you never know until you try. Where do you even get those things anyway?”

“My concept charms? Technically I found most of them, but I can make them myself too”

“Really?”

“Well yeah. Here, let me try something” Marco motioned for his travelling companion to stop moving. Taking a moment to look over her, he eventually reached out and held his palm in front of her flame. Energy flowed into his hand, drawing it back and clenching his fist he opened it to reveal a new charm. An open pair of scissors with pale gold blades, blue-gray handles and a stylised flame crest on the center hinge. In between the blades was black spikes like those of Hekapoo’s tiara and a flame resembling the one above her head. “Here we go, the Scissorsmith charm. Wanna see what it does?”

“Hell yeah Muscles. Let me see what you’re working with” She ended on a seductive tone which Marco elected to ignore. He plugged it into his chest, light enveloping him.

“Running with Scissors! Flame Empress! The Scissorsmith!” his belt called out, the power of his two charms blending. The jacket he bore turned pearlescent yellow extended, flowing further out. Long red braids extended from the back of his head, his horns turned black and a flame began floating above them. In his hand formed a massive blade which resembled half the pair of scissors depicted on the charm. When the transformation finished he doubled over, his fuel falling to below one tenth, using the scissor blade to hold himself up.

“Whoa” Hekapoo rushed over to help him “You okay?”

“Yeah” he responded coarsely “It took a lot of my fuel but I’ll be fine in a few minutes. Your charm is incredibly powerful.”

“Tell me something I don’t know” she replied and they both laughed “So, what exactly is that doing for ya?”

“Let’s see” Marco said, straightening up. He felt the powers of his new charm, and with step he teleported a dozen feet. Then another. And another.

“You’re opening micro portals. That’s amazing!” Hekapoo announced.

“There’s more than just that.” he spun the scissor blade and hung it across his shoulder “I can see it. The forging process. Or at least I think I can. I’d need to use the charm a lot more to use it for something so nuanced.”

“Well ya got me muscles. Tell you what; after we finish this job we go back to my forge, we’ll try to teach you a classification spell to help your Star friend keep secrets, then we run you through your paces. See if you can actually forge.”

“I don’t know about that, it’s pretty late in my home dimension and people will expect me to be there in the morning. Another time for the forging. I would still like to try to learn that spell though.”

“Lame.” Hekapoo smiled wryly at him “but fine, another time for the scissor forging. Just don’t let me catch you trying it on your own. That’s my job.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. We really should hurry though cuz I don’t know how long I got.” and with that, the two scissorsmiths continued their quest.

\-------------  
Giggling, Star dragged Nobuhiko from the dance floor. The night was winding down around them, but neither of them cared particularly much.

“Man” Nobuhiko began “I haven’t had fun like that in years”

“Yeah” Star chuckled “I know what you mean, sometimes you just need to cut loose on the dance floor.”

“I would have never expected to meet someone like you at an underwater dance club.”

“Likewise. I guess the two of us kinda stick out here.”

“That’s putting it lightly. What brought you here anyway?”

“I needed a girl’s night to take my mind off some stuff. I came with Pony Head but I have no idea what happened to her. What about you?”

“It’s my sixteenth birthday. My “uncle”,” Nobuhiko made finger quotes around the word uncle “decided I needed to have a good time and dragged me across the multiverse for the day. He also appears to have flown the coop.”

“Oh my god, Happy birthday!”

“Thanks Star. I’m kinda in a weird place back home and don’t have many friends or family left. Tsukasa, my “uncle”, is the only one who really comes around anymore.”

“Well I’m your friend now buster” the two chuckled at her words “What world are you from?”

“Earth” Nobuhiko answered, stunning Star.

“Earth? Really?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I mean, I didn’t know there were people who had dimensional scissors on earth. I’m currently staying there as an exchange student from Mewni.”

“No kidding? Well I don’t know about dimensional scissors, Tsukasa can naturally open dimensional walls for travel. He’s kinda a special exception in a lot of ways. Where on earth are you living?”

“Echo Creek, California. You?”

“Gakugei Daigaku, just outside of Tokyo, Japan. An ocean away from where you are.”

“It’s not that far when you have a pair of these!” Star revealed her dimensional scissors.

“Those are the scissors you were talking about?”

“Yup. Just think of a place and they’ll send you there.”

“That’s awesome.” He stared into her eyes for a moment “Not to kill the mood, but you said you came here to take your mind off of stuff? Did you wanna talk about it?”

“Oh it’s nothing.” Star played with her “You don’t want to listen to my problems on your b-day.”

“I like hearing people’s problems. I like to help. It’s an important skill for someone in my position” He smiled softly at her.

“Well” Star took a deep breath “I got into a fight with my best friend.”

“What kind of fight?”

“Well it wasn’t really a fight. I’m just worried about him. We had some bad stuff happen recently and now he’s acting weird.”

“And he doesn’t want to talk about it?”

“It’s more than that. He really helped me deal with what happened, and if he’s having problems with it I want to help him. Then today he disappeared and came back with a hickey on his neck. He’s always been into this girl Jackie and she’s finally interested in him and he’s, I don’t know what he’s doing. He wouldn’t tell me and it…”

“It upset you. I can understand where you’re coming from, you want to help and it seems like he’s pulling away. The trick to a situation like this is trust. You said he’s your best friend, right?” Nobuhiko asks, receiving a curt nod from Star “Then give him your trust. Let him know you’re there if he needs you. If he’s having problems, he’ll come to you when he’s ready. It’s not always good to push. Okay?”

“Yeah” Star spoke quietly “Thanks. You’re really good at this.”

“I’ve had some bad times, and when it comes to stuff like this; experience is the best teacher.”

“I’m surprised you said you don’t have many friends.”

“That’s one of those things. I was born into a particular kind of life, one that doesn’t always make it easy to find friends. Then when I… well let’s just say that a lot of it I did to myself. I’m alright with it for the most part. It’s nice meeting someone like you though.”

“Thanks. It’s nice meeting someone like you too. Maybe we should be getting back to earth.”

“Yeah. it’s late where you’re from isn’t it?” Nobuhiko asks

“It isn’t where you’re from?” Star asks in return.

“No. If you’re not tired, maybe we can hit up an arcade or something?”

“That might be nice”

\-------------  
Embedded in the ground was a massive metal disc, partially covered by dust. On the  
disc was a three headed eagle clutching the globe. A seem ran through the center, implying it could split open. Both Marco and Hekapoo’s sensors told them this was the place. A sense of dread permeated the duo, and they stared intently at the disc in silence for a long while.

Eventually Hekapoo spoke “So muscles, you gonna crack it open or what?”

“Uh, Sure” Marco replied hesitantly. Approaching the covered entrance he readied his scissor blade. Taking several measured swings, he butchered the metal disc with projected portals. He looked over to Hekapoo who gave him a thumbs up. She jumped in first, landing in a rough stone corridor, Marco following close behind. 

Looking at tracking device she spoke “The scissors are here for sure. What about your senses?”

“I can feel over a dozen of the kind we fought before, plus two stronger creatures with a similar energy signature.” Marco felt around “That way” he pointed forward from where they landed.

“Where the scissors are, figures. How’s the fuel doing?”

Marco tapped the reservoir on his chest “Half. I’m feeling alright.”

“Let’s go then.” She led the way, illuminating the dark tunnel with a conjured flame.

“So what do you know about these thieve anyway?”

“Nada. We suspect it’s related to a slew of incidents across the multiverse: assassinations, thefts, terrorist attacks and so on, but none of the usual suspects have claimed responsibility.”

“No ideas at all? Witness reports or anything?”

“We have had a lack of survivors. The entire magic high commision is on high alert, and after a one of our agents was murdered and his scissors stolen it became a matter of honour for me to hunt them down and get it back.”

“Things are getting really serious then. Have you heard of.”

“Shhhh.” Hekapoo shushed Marco, and voices could be heard up ahead.

“And soon, using the energy within these dimensional scissors Grandis Shocker will be able to create even more powerful kaijin.” a being resembling Marco’s base transformation spoke authoritatively. He wore black leather pants and a matching jacket which had silver armour with a red plate down the center. He wore a yellow scarf and similarly coloured boots and gloves. The sides of his helmet were red with a white stripe down the center and a white mouthplate. He had large green compound eyes and long silver antennae. Around his waist was a red belt with a silver buckle marked with a green V and two red fans. A large emblem of a three headed eagle clutching the world hung behind him.

“These kaijin will help guide our forces in securing victory over all of the multiverse!” Added a purple snake man standing next to him, a plinth upon which sat the stolen dimensional scissors stood between them. They were addressing a group of the enemies Marco and Hekapoo fought earlier. “Glory to Shocker!” he shouted while performing a nazi salute. 

The minions returned the salute, accompanied by a shout of “Yee!”

“You got something you wanna tell me, muscles?” Hekapoo whispered to Marco.

“A rider like me, no doubt about it.” He narrowed his eyes at the Shocker Rider “I don’t know who he is or what they are up to, but I am not letting him escape.”

“Come on” Hekapoo strode into the large chamber, waving for Marco to follow “Hey punks! You made a poor decision, crossing the magic high commision. Surrender now or else.”

Marco followed right behind her “And please pick “or else”.” he pointed his scissor blade directly at his opposite.

“A rider? The great leader will reward us greatly for destroying you. And as for you, demon woman, you don’t stand a chance against the forces of Shocker!”

“He actually picked “or else”, wow.” Marco looked to Hekapoo “May I have this dance?”

“Let’s rock!” she responded, cracking her knuckles. She quickly replicated herself, forming enough clones to match the shocker footsoldiers. The clones got into close combat with their targets, who drew their kukris in response. Meanwhile the prime Hekapoo drew her combat scissors, splitting them into two blades and squared up against the snake man.

Across the room, Marco and the Shocker Rider began circling each other. “So what’s your callsign, Rider?” The enemy rider asks.

“Red. You?” Marco spits his works.

“Shocker Rider V3. So tell me Masked Rider Red, tell me are you ready to meet your end?’”

“No by a longshot, which means I gotta be the one to win this!” Marco pointed his scissor blade at his opponent “I haven’t survived everything I have up to now just to lose to the likes of you!” He steps forward as if to rush his opponent, but instead teleports behind him. He swings is weapon overhead and V3 quickly turns and block it with his arm, sparks flying from the impact. He counters with a hard turning kick, his foot igniting with flames. Marco quickly portals to dodge the attack. As Marco appears on the other side of his opponent, V3 continues the spin to face him and fires a stream of freezing gas towards him. Marco rapidly spins his weapon in order to dissipate the gas.

Meanwhile Hekapoo was running circles around the snake man, evading spouts of toxic gas spewing from his mouth. With each pass she took a swing at her target using her scissor blades.

“Sssstop that!” The snake man curses.

“Nice lisp, so original for a snake.” She laughed.

“How daresssss you!” He called out as he moved in for a swipe, which Hekapoo evaded with a backstep. She quickly fired an explosive ball of flames into him, sending the snake man flying into a number of his foot soldiers who in turn exploded upon impact.

“Wow, what are those dudes made of? Tnt?”

“Thesssse combatmen are the latessst model, they have the ability to become missssssiles for ssssuicide attacksss” the snake man informed her as he rose to his feet.

“Can you please sssssstop talking like that? It’s reeeealy annoying.” hekapoo teased, as the clones who were battling those combatmen joined her in surrounding the snake.

The two riders continued their exchange of blows, blocks and evades on the other side of the chamber. Marco took a wide swing from a distance away, firing a slicing portal at V3. The shocker rider once again dodged, resulting in the portal cutting the shocker crest hanging on the wall in half.

Looking at the destroyed symbol, V3 became enraged “You’ll pay for that, Red!”

“Send me the bill” Marco replied before firing off a salvo of portals from his scissor blade. As his opponent moved to evade them, Marco portalled to the side V3 was dodging toward and landed a clean slash on the evil rider. V3 was knocked to the ground, rolling away from Marco. As the Shocker Rider began rising to his feet, Marco was on him. Attempting to deliver a vertical slash to his downed opponent, Marco found his scissor blade blocked by V3’s crossed arms. Activating his “cross arm” ability, V3 caused the blade to become partially fused with his arm. Marco attempted to pull his weapon back, only to find it stuck.

“You’re weapon is now useless, Red!” V3 called out cockily. 

“Is it?” Marco grinned under his helmet, using is enemy’s arms as leverage to twist his blade downward an activate its portal creation ability. The conjured portal sliced directly through V3, dealing catastrophic damage and freeing Marco’s weapon. 

“Arrgh!” the Shocker Rider screamed in pain, collapsing backward. Marco touched his finger to his Walker of Worlds charm and dragged it to his scissorsmith charm, drawing energy from both of them. With a flourish of his sword, numerous portals appeared around V3. With a broad swing of his scissor blade, cutting energy flew no just from the blade but from each of the portals as well. Crackling with destructive energy, V3 yelled one last time “Glory to Shocker!” before exploding in a swirling vortex.

The Snake man was being pushed back against the wall as Hekapoo and her clones pressured him. Seeing his ally destroyed by Marco, he was growing desperate. He only had one out, and in a bid to escape attempted to rush through his opponents to get to the dimensional scissors. He managed to knock a few of the clones down, but by the time he neared his goal he was wholly surrounded. 

“Give it up, you’re done” Hekapoo threatened “Don’t even think of using those.” She was holding a fireball in one hand which was growing in size by the second.

Looking towards Hekapoo, the snake man gave one last nazi salute and called out “Glory to Shocker!” before activating his self-destruct function. The blast wave destroyed all of her clones, but Marco was able to portal over and grab her before teleporting back down the corridor they came down. Marco was a little singed, but both of them were unharmed as he transported them out of the blast radius.

“Thanks for the save, but I’m fireproof” She remarked.

“Oh. I guess that makes sense, with the flame on your head and everything” Marco laughed. The duo returned to the ruined chamber, Hekapoo moving to recover the still intact scissors. “I wonder what this was all about?” Marco asked.

“Nothing good, that’s for sure” She glared at the spot where her opponent had exploded “I really wish they weren’t so combustible. I wanted to question them.”

“I know what you mean.” Marco looked around the room “Oh yeah, I was going to ask you. Have you heard of Mewni Memories?”

“Mewni Memories?”

“Yeah, someone’s making them using the memory of Mewni itself. Their creating monsters with them. Not quite like the ones we fought here, but similar. It might be worth investigating.”

“Damn right it does. Thanks for the tip”

“It’s nothing. You gave me a lot of good advice tonight.”

“Speaking of which, ready to see if you can learn some magic?”

“No.” Marco replied “I’m hopeful that it won’t be necessary. Nothing clears my head like a good battle, and I’ve decided I don’t want to use something like that on a friend.”

“Suit yourself muscles” She turned and opened a portal with her personal scissors “don’t forget to stop in soon for your smithing test.”

“I won’t.” Marco swung his blade, opening his open portal home.

“Oh, and muscles?”

“Yeah?”

“If you ever get tired of playing games with little girls, feel free to call me up” She quickly moved through her portal wit a maniacal laugh. Marco sighed and walked through his own.

\------------  
Star yawned, leaning on a Taiko Drum Master arcade cabinet. “Finally crashing?” Nobuhiko asked.

“Yeah” She stood up and stretched her arms. “Should be getting home”

“Thanks again for coming with me.”

“No problem” She smiled at him.

“Maybe I can get your phone number?”

“No phone, Magic Mirror” She produced her compact.

“Works for me” he produced a strange red and silver phone-like device “I should be able to sync this to your mirror.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a Faiz Phone X.” He held the device near her mirror and started pressing buttons “I won it off a girl names Tsukuyomi in a poker game Tsukasa dragged me to. Aaaand, there.” He closed and pocketed the item “All synced up, we should be able to call each other now”

“He sure does that a lot huh?”

“Who?”

“Your uncle, Tsukasa. He drags you places a lot.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t like me just sitting in my workshop all day. He wants me to be able to have some normalcy.”

“That sounds nice.”

“As annoying as he can be, it is nice. He cares about me.”

“That’s good. Happy birthday again, Nobuhiko.”

“Thanks. Talk to you soon?”

“Hopefully.” She produced her dimensional scissors, opening and walking through a portal.

“Told you it would be nice” Tsukasa spoke. Nobuhiko turned to see him taking a photo.

“You better not have been spying on the whole thing.”

“I wasn’t. I didn’t plan on coming back, but I got an emergency call from Faiz.”

“What is it?” Nobuhiko asked with panic in his voice.

“The Great Leader of Shocker has surfaced.”


	6. Hexagram Song

Kagome once again awoke to the sound of Sesshomaru having a discussion on the phone. She couldn’t quite make out what was being said, but he hung up shortly after. Rising from the bed and wiping the sleep from her eyes she spoke “Good morning.”

“Yes, good morning” Sesshomaru replied, already wearing his suit which appeared to be freshly pressed. Kagome looked over to find a still sleeping Rin next to her.

“What are the plans for the day?” She yawned.

“First we need to locate the Rider I encountered last night, Kougami wants to talk with him. Then we’re supposed to make contact with a researcher at Osaka castle.”

“Researcher?”

“Don’t know, that’s all he said.” He turned from facing Kagome to face Rin as she began waking.

“Good morning” Rin called out “I’m hungry.”

“Let’s get something to eat then.” kagome spoke softly to the little girl “Will you be joining us, Sesshomaru?”

“Fine.” he responded.

\-------------  
After breakfast Sesshomaru led his group through the city, sensing Faiz’s transformation device. Kougami was vague as to why he wanted to speak to the rider, in fact he was vague on many things. Sesshomaru was beginning to question how wise the decision to throw in with his lot was. He seemed unbalanced Sesshomaru thought, but to what degree and was he a threat. That was a bridge to be crossed in the future though and he could sense that the other rider was near. Of course anyone could have made that guess with the screaming humans that were now passing him.

“What’s going on?” Kagome asked, Rin clinging to her.

“See for yourself” Sesshomaru replied, pointing ahead. Once the people were gone they could clearly see Faiz fighting a light-gray humanoid. 

“Should we help?” Kagome turned from the fight to face Sesshomaru.

“Not yet, I want to see something.” And so they stood there as Faiz battled his opponent, eventually ending it with a rider kick. “Hmmm.” Sesshomaru began approaching the untransformed Takumi Inui.

Turning to see Sesshomaru, Kagome and Rin, Takumi greeted the other rider “Hey. You’re Sesshomaru right?”

“I am. My… employer would like to have a word with you.” He quickly retrieved his phone and dialed.

“Your employer?”

“Here.” Sesshomaru shoved the device into the other rider’s hands, before stepping away to stand near Kagome and Rin.

“What was that about?” Kagome asked.

“I told you, Kougami…”

“No” she interrupted him “You said you wanted to see something?”

“It’s nothing, just something I needed to know.”

“That doesn’t answer anything.”

“It wasn’t for you, it was for me.” Sesshomaru growled.

“Fine, he looks like he’s done anyway” She gestured back to Takumi.

“Here” he handed Sesshomaru his phone back “I’m leaving” he added curtly before taking off.

“What was that now?” Kagome queried.

“I’m guessing he didn’t like what Kougami had to say. Now come on, we have somewhere else to be.”

\--------------  
Standing about the castle and its environs, one could almost believe the three of them had returned to the past. They had not of course and as the time they remained there wore on, Sesshomaru was growing impatient. Kagome could see the frustration welling up in him, and had an idea.

“Hey, Rin?” She spoke quietly to the small girl.

“Yes?”

“Sesshomaru seems on edge, is there anything you can do to calm him down?”

“Hmmm?” she tilted her head, thinking for a moment. Kagome watched as she then proceeded to run over to Sesshomaru and tug and his pants to get his attention. He leaned down and Rin whispered something to him before running off. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes before going after her.

“Cute kid, huh?” a man spoke to Kagome from right behind her.

“What?” She quickly turned, greeted by a young man. He had a small pompadour and wore a black leather jacket with red trim and the Kougami Foundation logo on the left breast. “Are you?”

“Kougami sent me to meet you guys, yeah” he interrupted Kagome’s question “I’m Souta. Ito Souta. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms.Higurashi.” he spoke with a frenetic pace.

“How long have you been here?” She took a step back to make a little more room between them.

“Longer than you three, I just wanted to observe though. See what I have to work with.” He smiled an unnaturally wide smile.

“Right.” Kagome stepped further back “We should go find those two.” She gestured over her shoulder with her thumb.

“Oh of course.” He gestured for her to lead the way. She chuckled nervously, not wanting to turn her back on this strange man. She moved briskly, turning and walking in the direction Rin and Sesshomaru headed. She could feel him walking uncomfortably close behind her, but she couldn’t hear him. Not his steps, not even his breathing. She tried to walk faster but he still kept pace just behind her. Turning a corner she nearly tumbled over Rin who was running perpendicular to her. Coming to a dead stop, Kagome was certain the man was going to crash into her but he didn’t.

“There you are” Sesshomaru spoke in a bored tone, before looking around her to see Souta. “You must be the one Kougami sent us here to meet.”

“Yup, that’s me. Ito Souta!” he mock-saluted Sesshomaru. 

“And why exactly did he do that?” Sesshomaru’s voice had a hint of venom as he approached the man. Kagome moved out of the way and soon the two men were standing eye to eye with maybe a foot in between them. 

“Oh, that’s simple. He wanted you to help me run some tests.” he produced a small black container resembling a cigarette case.

“Tests?” Sesshomaru asked. Souta opened the case, allowing Sesshomaru to feel the power of the objects contained within.

“Since getting out from under the thumb of Foundation X, Kougami has managed to steal a lot of their research.” he produced a gaia memory from the case. He threw it incredibly fast at Sesshomaru, who caught it easily. “Nice catch” Souta remarked, “I simply need you to use that, it will send combat data back to our lab.”

“That’s it?” Sesshomaru glared at the man.

“Well I also have your next assignment.”

“And that would be?”

“An unknown rider has been spotted attacking people on the streets of Kamurocho alongside a group of unidentified kaijin. He wants you to investigate, your point of contact is an old business associate of Kouami’s by the name of Goro Majima.” he pulled out a sheaf of papers. “Intel files, train tickets and hotel reservations.”

Sesshomaru took the papers “Is that all?”

“Yeah, Well. Thank you I guess. I really didn’t want to be the one to take that job, Majima gives me the creeps.” Souta replied “See ya!” he waved goodbye frantically before running off. Shrugging off what had just transpired, Sesshomaru looked at the gaia memory in his hand: Inu. He felt an immediate connection to the object, its energy synchronised with his own. Pocketing the memory he sifts through the papers in is other hand.

“Our train leaves tomorrow morning. Is there anything else you wanted to do before we go?” he turned to face Kagome. 

\-------------  
Kagome was pleasantly surprised a how well Sesshomaru and Rin handled going to the movies. She figured Sesshomaru was used to going to plays and Rin was just well behaved. The sat in the center of a large theatre, watching some live action adaptation of an anime Kagome never really watched. She decided it should be something kid friendly after all. Once it was clear everything was under control, she began to relax. As the film wore on she naturally rested her head on Sesshomaru’s shoulder. He remained silent, and as a result Kagome failed to notice her mistake. It wasn’t until the film was over an she turned her head towards her companion did she realize what had occured. Her warm, content smile quickly turning sour. Leaving to return to the hotel, neither acknowledged what had transpired.

\-------------  
The next morning, they stood waiting at the train station. Kagome was beginning to wonder how much longer she would be stuck travelling with Sesshomaru. She missed Inuyasha and the others, and she was worried how they were fairing without her. It had only been a single weekend, but she was unused to spending extended amounts of time in the present. Sure, it was nice taking care of Rin, bu she couldn’t help but feel useless when it came to matters of Riders. Naraku was still there in the past, and she should be there to help stop him.

“Hey Sesshomaru” she began “how much longer do you think you’ll need me here?”

“Missing my brother are you?” he responded.

“I’m worried, about him and the others. They’re still in the past battling Naraku.”

“And Susanoo, one of my father’s greatest foes is here in the present. It is a matter of honour to hunt him down and destroy him.”

“You mentioned an old foe of your father’s. Who is he?”

“Susanoo was a powerful commander who led a covert war on humanity, and any others who opposed his rule. Neither human nor youkai, no one knew what he truly was or where he came from. He had an army of unfamiliar monsters which was decimated by my father. It was believed Susanoo was killed as well, and his severed arm was forged into the sword So’unga.”

Kagome shuddered in fear at the memory of the third sword “How did he survive?”

“I don’t know, but it appears he now leads an army called Shocker. I am able to surmise that the Riders of the modern era have been locked in a long term struggle with his forces. During our last train ride I encountered a shocker monster in disguise and destroyed them.”

“I guess there are battles that need to be fought in both time periods then.”

Sesshomaru stood in silent in thought for a moment “After we handle this business in Kamurocho, I may release you from your service if you so wish.” he whispered to her quietly.

“Really?” she gasped

“We’ll see.”

\-------------  
Rin had never played in a park before. Of course Kamurocho has a number of public parks and they were instructed to wait at a particular one. So Rin found herself being pushed on a swing by Kagome as Sesshomaru watched from a nearby bench. Sitting there waiting, Sesshomaru was listening to the sounds of the city. So different from the quiet past he was so used to, it fell directly in between overstimulation and just enough noise to make him relaxed. Like the din of some constant battle going on. Of course, it wasn’t enough to disguise the stomping feet of some incoming enemy.

“Kagome, grab Rin and get back!” He shouted, drawing and readying his belt.

“What is it now?” She called out as a group of monsters arrived. They were red with black detailing and arms. They had numerous grey “screws” embedded within them, wore golden oni masks and each one carried a large red and black “shuriken” over their shoulder. “What are those?”

“Gelnewts, the monsters reported as attacking civilians. Henshin!” Sesshomaru transformed, walking out to meet his enemies. The gelnewts fanned out in front of him, eyeing him carefully. Suddenly one of the monsters was hit in the head with a flying baseball bat, knocking its mask off. “What the hell?”

“Hehehehe” A cackling could be heard from nearby, both the gelnewts and Sesshomaru turning to its source. A thin man wearing a snakeskin jacket, leather pants and shoes, and an eyepatch with a snake emblem walked towards them, playing with a tanto dagger. As he repeatedly tossed the weapon up in the air and caught it with one hand, he came to a stop. “I am the only oni in Kamurocho, you punks.” he caught his dagger one last time, and then licked along its length. “And that means I gotta put all of you down!” 

Sesshomaru watched as the man he knew to be Goro Majima began his assault on the monsters. Or he would have, but somehow this human was able to move faster than he could keep track of. Dashing between the gelnewts, Majima turned into a blur of darkness. As he past his enemies he left behind desaturated afterimages, ones that were solid and began slicing up the monsters on their own. They faded after a short instant, Majima coming to a halt on the opposite side of the group. Simultaneously the masks of every gelnewt fell off, having been hacked to pieces. 

“You got that!” he shouted as he turned around to face his enemies, just in time for all of them to explode. The surviving energy of the creatures flew off, seeking to reconstitute. Majima returned his tanto to its sheathe, before turning to speak to Sesshomaru “Sorry to cut in like that, but those things have been pissing me off”

Sesshomaru cancelled his transformation “It’s fine. You’re Goro Majima.”

“Yeah, and you’re Sesshomaru. Kamen Rider Oh. Kougami told me all about you. It’s not everyday you get to meet a inu daiyoukai in this day and age. And you ladies must be Kagome Higurashi and Rin. Hiya!” he waved to the two girls standing at the back of the park.

“Hello.” Kagome replied awkwardly. She had seen Miroku and Sango accomplish feats she would have previously categorized as inhuman, but that was something else.

“Kougami said you would have leads on the source of those monsters and a rider.”

“Oh yeah, but business can wait can’t it? Why don’t we go out for some food and drinks?” He approached Sesshomaru, who simply glared at him. “Or I could give you the info, fine. Be a stick in the mud.” he laughed, extracting a scrap of paper from his pocket “Let’s see. Dry cleaners on Sotenbori street.” he held the paper, examining it for a moment “oh shit, I forgot to pick up my dry cleaning”

“Don’t mess with me” Sesshomaru grabbed him by the collar “Give me the information.”

“Oh come on, that’s no way to treat a friend.” He jumped up and planted both feet into Sesshomaru’s chest hard, escaping the youkai’s grasp and sending them both crashing into the ground. Maijima was only on the ground for a instant, suddenly standing over Sesshomaru.

“Lord Sesshomaru” Rin ran over to her companion, Kagome behind her. Sesshomaru growled as he rose to his feet, but Kagome inserted herself between him and Majima.

“You two need to calm down, there is literally no reason to fight.” She tried to defuse the situation.

“Fighting is the reason” Majima replied “but I guess it can wait. I don’t normally give out information to someone unless they beat me, but I can make an exception for a pretty girl like you.” he pulled out another scrap of paper and handed it to Kagome “There. Kougami gave me Sesshomaru’s cellphone, If anything comes up, my subordinate Nishida will call. See ya!” He walked off, turning onto the main street. His cackling laughter could be heard from out of sight.

“Why are all these people we keep meeting so weird” she complained. Sesshomaru walked up and snatched the piece of paper from her hand. 

“You two should go to the hotel” he eyed the paper “I’ll go investigate”

\-------------  
Sesshomaru stood a good distance away observing the location listed on the paper: Club Shine. He had managed to “question” a patron of the club as to what it exactly was. A hostess club was not something he was familiar with, and were it not for Majima saying that this was the place he was looking for he wouldn’t bother with it. Unfortunately, it seems there was only one way to figure out if this lead was legitimate. Straightening his suit, Sesshomaru entered and approached the door man.

“Hello, Sir. Will you be joining us today?” the man asked.

“Yes.” Sesshomaru replied curtly.

“The door fee is 10,00 yen.”

Sesshomaru quietly paid and selected a girl, Saki, taking a seat towards the back of the club. He ordered drinks and the two made small talk. Sesshomaru hates small talk, and found the situation he was in inane. Eventually, just as he was getting ready to write this off a server approached the table.

“Would you like to order anything else?” he asked.

Sesshomaru took a deep breath, doing his best not to murder the man standing next to his table. It was none other than Goro Majima who stood there, a cheshire grin plastered on his face. “No, thank you’ he looked Majima dead in the eyes. He knew the man was planning something. His suspicion was confirmed when Majima nodded to the hostess who proceeded to scream.

“Get off me you beast!” she yelled.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave” Majima spoke.

“So that’s your game? How idiotic” Sesshomaru slowly rose to his feet.

“If you aren’t going to leave I will have to eject you.” he sang his words. The men and women at nearby tables flipped them over and spread them out, forming an impromptu arena for the two.

“A lot of presentation, just what are you trying to pull?” Sesshomaru reached for his driver.

“Oh no, no, no. No belt.” he waggled his finger “and I’m trying to eject a pervert who was harassing girls at this cabaret.”

“Fine.” Sesshomaru took a swing with his claws, Majima gracefully dodging. Grabbing a nearby chain the yakuza smashed it over the youkai’s head. The battle continued as Majima slowly wore down Sesshomaru’s inhuman durability, being careful to evade nearly every strike the youkai attempted. Eventually they were both left panting.

“Man I haven’t had a fight like that since…” Majima’s words drifted off, a slight blush forming on his cheeks. Shaking his head, he returned to reality “You got it, you really do.” he then offered a business card to Sesshomaru “This is your next clue, don’t take too long though! Hehehe” he turned away and coordinated putting the club back in working order.

Sesshomaru looked at the card, it read “Yoshida Batting Center”

\-------------  
A human as powerful as this Majima was an impossibility in Sesshomaru’s mind. Riders were an exception, but he was clearly not a rider. It was annoying, but Sesshomaru knew that playing this game was his only chance to find this other rider. The rider he sought had purple armour and a visored helmet with a cobra-esque hood. The photos were blurry but they proved the presence of a rider in Kamurocho. 

Entering the batting center he was shocked to see that Goro Majima was already there, wearing his regular outfit and practicing his baseball swing. That was impossible, Majima was still busy when Sesshomaru left and he ran the whole way hoping to get it over with as fast as possible. Sesshomaru supposed it was possible that Majima could maintain the speed he used against the gelnewts, but still. Majima was an enigma, and, if he was indeed an “ordinary” human, a threat to Sesshomaru’s world view. 

“You made it!” Majima called out “Come join me!” he waved for Sesshomaru to join him.

“What now?” Sesshomaru asked as he approached the cages.

“I wanna see how well you handle a bat” he offered the youkai a metal baseball bat. “Go on, give it a few swings”

Sesshomaru copied what he saw Majima do, carefully swinging the bat.

“Yeah.” Majima commented “Now let’s see how well you can use it. See that machine is going to fire a ball towards you and you need to hit it with the bat into the targets that pop up.

“You said this was another clue.”

“That’s right. First the cabaret, now the batting cages. Both are clues to the identity of the rider you seek.”

“Just tell me where they are”

“Nope.” Majima crossed his arms “You’ll have to figure it out just like I did.”

Sesshomaru growled, but he knew this was the easier way. After he managed to perfectly hit the targets a few times, Majima stopped him.

“Alright, now we’re going to have a little competition!” Majima picked up his own bat “Best score wins”. The ensuing competition resulted in a tie, both playing perfectly. “Damn, you actually did it.”

“Will you tell me where the rider is now?” Sesshomaru replied, annoyed.

“Not yet. Your next clue is at a dance club down the street that just opened up called Typhoon.”

“Let me guess, I’ll arrive only to find you. You’ll challenge me to some idiotic competition and then send me on another wild goose chase?”

“I would never” Majima sounded actually insulted, which did little to sway Sesshomaru who turned and left with a loud sigh.

\-------------  
Sesshomaru found himself sitting alone in a booth, watching the entrances for Majima. He was certain he was coming, despite claims otherwise. He was so preoccupied he didn’t notice the woman approaching him.

“Waiting for someone?”she asked cheerily

“Huh?” Sesshomaru got caught off guard “I’m not sure.”

“You look lonely” She smiled down at him “Would you like to dance?”

“No, I wouldn’t” he replied.

“Oh come on” She grabbed his arm “It’ll be fun!”. He sighed as she pulled him from his seat, it was just one of those nights. He awkwardly began dancing with his partner, slowly getting into it and letting his guard drop. Which made it all the more annoying when he heard someone yell at him from behind.

“What do you think you’re doing dancing with my girl?” Majima accused.

Sesshomaru slowly turned around, finding the man wearing a disco-style suit. “What’s it this time?”

“If you think you’re such hot stuff prove it! I challenge you to a dance off!” Majima got in Sesshomaru’s face. The rest of the dance club simultaneously went “ooh!”

“How much effort have you put into this charade?”

“This is no charade! This is a matter of honour!”

“I swear when this whole debacle is over I will end you” Sesshomaru snarled.

“Good luck with that pal. Heheheh, but for now we must dance!” he cheered as the song “24 Hour Cinderella” began playing. Majima immediately struck a dancing pose and began grooving along “What are you waiting for? This is a duel!’

“Urgh, Fine” Sesshomaru attempted to dance along, but that was clearly not his strong suit. When the song ended the other club patrons were cheering for Majima. “Are you well and done now?” Sesshomaru was gravely annoyed.

“You tried, that’s what’s important.” Majima slapped him on the back “So no more games. The man your looking for will be in a bar called New Serena, down on tenkaichi street. Good luck”

“If this is another trick.”

“No no no, it’s done. Go, find your target”

\-------------  
He knew he should have expected this, to think it was over was simply too optimistic. Entering New Serena he found it completely dark, only for a single light to turn on revealing Majima once again. Behind him was something covered in a sheet, but Sesshomaru didn’t pay it much mind.

“I thought you said no more games.” Sesshomaru was reaching the calm serenity of completely pissed.

“This isn’t a game.” Majima sounded dead serious “See the Tojo clan has gotten in bed with Grandis Shocker, buying weapons and all that. Without my boy Kiryu around to knock some sense into them, the duty fell to me but I ain’t exactly in the position to oppose the decision right now. So..” A drum roll began as he pulled the sheet off, revealing a body length mirror “I made a purchase” he turned to the mirror and made a motion with his hands in front of his waist, summoning a belt from the mirror “And decided to raise a little hell” he then produced a small purple deck box emblazoned with a golden cobra “I became New Ouja to see if I couldn’t grab the attention of someone who could oppose them” he then slid the box into the belt “Imagine my surprise when my old buddy Kougami comes calling, saying he’s got a literal dog demon on the payroll... Henshin!” He posed.

In a flicker of a reflection, Majima was garbed in black with purple gauntlets and boots, a purple and silver chestplate and a silver visored purple helmet with a silver cobra’s hood. In his hand was a snake headed cane. Majime drew a card from his belt and slid it into the cane. “Survive!” the belt announced, engulfing him in flowing purple liquid. When it faded it revealed a new transformation. His boots and gauntlets had gold detailing, his left gauntlet had a large buckler-like attachment shaped like a snake, his chestplate became more ornate its center resembling a snake with snake patterns on the pectorals, large silver lined purple pauldrons with feather-like spikes formed on his shoulders, his helmet also became more ornate and the inner part of the cobra hood turned gold.

“So I told a little lie” Majima continued “And here you are. Now I couldn’t just hand everything over to you, I didn’t know you from adam. But over the course of tonight I’ve observed you. And now I can safely say, you still need to beat me if you want to know the rest” he then drew his tanto as if from nowhere.

“So this was all a test? I’ll admit, I’m somewhat impressed. I still intend to end you once this is over and done with though” Sesshomaru drew his own belt and activated it “Henshin” he then drew the Orga mission memory, his belt shapeshifting a phone like extension on the front. 

“Complete” the belt announced as Sesshomaru slid the device into place. Gold trimming appeared on his armour, a black half robe with gold patterning extended from his belt, a red orb appeared on his chest and his shoulder, and Orga’s crescent “crown” formed on his head with a red orb in the center. A large golden sword with a two pronged tip appeared in his hand. 

Sesshomaru moved in with his sword, swinging it horizontally. Majima blocked it with his tanto, dragging the smaller blade along the length of the sword in order to close with his opponent. Majima followed it up with a high kick to Sesshomaru’s face, knocking him off balance. Spinning around, Majima then stabbed his tanto into his target’s side. Pulling away, Sesshomaru attempted to regain his balance but his opponent wouldn’t allow it. Majima continued to deliver heavy blows, cuts and stabs faster than Sesshomaru could react.

“Come on, is that really all you got?” New Ouja taunted, throwing and catching his weapon. Sesshomaru panted in exhaustion, his opponent had ran him ragged all night and now had the clear advantage. He was already strong and fast as a human, now that he was transformed he seemed an insurmountable challenge. Simply stacking his transformation objects wouldn’t save him, he knew that. Then he remembered the feeling he had when he first touched the Inu gaia memory. He removed the Orga mission memory, returning to is base form before retrieving the usb-like device. A vertical slot appeared on his belt when he activated the memory.

“Inu!” he plugged it into the slot, pushing it and locking it into place at a 45 degree angle. He felt something with this new transformation, a connection of sorts. His armour turned from black to white-silver, his hands and feet now ended in claws, the eyes became red, an indigo crescent moon appeared on his forehead, a sash of white fur hung over his right shoulder and the spikes of his armour became wispy. It was true, his nature as one of the Inu Daiyoukai synchronised with the object. Now he felt all of the power of his true demon form condensed into his rider armour.

“Oh, now you’re looking like yourself.” Majima laughed “You know, they call me the Mad Dog of Shimano. Let’s see which of us is the “top dog”.’ he spoke those last two words in english. Sesshomaru decided to remain silent and rush his opponent. Now he found himself just as fast as Majima, allowing them to match each others blows. “There’s the rider worthy of being called King, I was wondering where he was hiding.”

“So you ever shut up?” Sesshomaru replied, his sash animating and seizing Majima around the waist and lifting him up. Ouja raised his tanto but before he could use it, Sesshomaru telekinetically levitated a number of nearby bar stools and slammed them directly into him which knocked the weapon from his hand. Sesshomaru then began drawing his opponent in as he charged his hands with his caustic venom. Just as Ouja came into range, he held up his hands in surrender.

“Alright, you got me” he shrugged “Just put me down and the information, and my advent deck, are yours.”

Sesshomaru put him down and both riders cancelled their transformations. Majima walked up and handed him the purple deck holder. He then snapped his fingers and all the lights in the bar turned on, members of Majima’s crew appearing from every hiding place imaginable firing off party poppers. Balloons floated into the room, and Kagome and Rin were led into the establishment.

“But before we go deal with Shocker, it’s time to celebrate your victory!” Majima produced a party popper and fired it directly into Sesshomaru’s face.

\-------------  
Kagome and Sesshomaru sat in a booth with Majima and Nishida, watching Rin climb all over the furniture being cheered on by Majima’s subordinates. Kagome hadn’t touched her drink, but Sesshomaru and the others were enjoying some warm sake. 

“So how old are you guys anyway?” Nishida asked, receiving a slap to the head from Majima.

“You never ask a woman her age you moron.” Majima chided his ally.

“No, it’s okay. I’m sixteen” she replied.

“Ehhh? So young?” Nishida responded “And you?” he looked at Sesshomaru.

“I am hundreds of years, but as Inu Daiyoukai go I am still quite young. The equivalent of about nineteen in human terms.”

“Huh.” Majima commented.

“Talk about a may-december romance right?” Nishida laughed, causing Kagome to turn beet red.

“We’re not together” Sesshomaru stated calmly.

“You’re not? But I thought…” Nishida looked confused.

“No, she’s my brother’s woman.”

“Hey” Kagome interjected “I am not his “woman”.” she spoke indignantly.

“Could have fooled me” he replied quietly, sipping from his cup.

“Look, I don’t even want to be here. I only agreed to go along with this bastard so he wouldn’t kill his brother.” Kagome huffed. Nishida and Majima exchanged a glance of concern, before shrugging. They then noticed a sudden silence. Turning they saw Rin standing next to the table.

“I thought you liked travelling with us” she spoke dejectedly.

“Oh it’s not like that” Kagome quickly tried to explain “It’s not that I don’t like travelling with you guys, this has been nice, but these aren’t exactly ideal circumstances.”

“You did ask when you could leave this morning” Sesshomaru added. Tears could be seen welling up in Rin’s eyes. She turned and ran off, out into the streets.

“Why did you do that?” Kagome yelled at Sesshomaru.

“It’s the truth.” He replied calmly.

“Well move and let me go after her, it’s not safe for her out there.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll go get her” Majima chimed in “I’m actually pretty good with kids. Be right back!” he leapt out of the booth and out after Rin.

\-------------  
Majima found Rin right around the corner at the park she played at earlier. She was hugging her knees while sitting up against a tree “Hey Kiddo!” he announced his arrival. She looked up. “You okay?”

“Mhm.” Rin nodded “It was my idea to ask her along. Nobody wanted Lord Sesshomaru to kill his brother. He probably doesn’t either. And It’s been wonderful since we came here. I’m not so afraid of the humans in this era. And Kagome has been so nice. It was like…”

“Like having a family” Majima sat down next to her “I’m guessing you’re an orphan, right?” she nodded “My best buddy was an orphan, he grew up at a place called the Sunshine Orphanage. He runs the place now, looking after the kids. And when I started this metaphor I was going somewhere with it, but I completely lost track of the point. Do you want to play on the swings?” he gestured toward the nearby swing set.

“Okay.” Rin walked over and sat down on a swing, grasping the chain holding it up. Majima got up and started pushing her.

“So look, it’s not like Kagome doesn’t care about you. I’ve known you maybe ten minutes and I do, although that’s probably just Kiryu rubbing off on me after all these years. Whatever going on with those two is clearly complicated, a lot more than just being blackmailed to be his guide or whatever. I can see it. If you like travelling with Kagome you can either go back to wherever with her and Sesshomaru’s brother, or…”

“I won’t leave Lord Sesshomaru” She interrupted him

“Or try to help them get along better. It won’t be easy but you strike me as a survivor.” He smiled at the child.

“I’ll do it.” Rin said thoughtfully.

“Ready to go back?”

“Okay”

\-------------  
When they arrived back at the bar Kagome was gone. “Where’d she go?” Majima asked.

“I released her from my service” Sesshomaru replied “I gave her money to take the train home. Let’s head to the hotel for the night” he looked at Rin who nodded in response.

Watching them leave Majima silently swore.

\------------  
“Do you really think leaving that little girl is the right move?”

Kagome turned to see Majima walking down the train platform towards her. “He cares about her, they’ll be fine.” she looked away from him.

“You don’t sound all that convinced. At least on the they’ll be fine part.”

“What do you expect me to do? Stay here and play mom? I have people who are waiting for me. People who are relying on me to get back and help them.”

“Got your own battles to fight then? I get it. Considering what y’all are getting up to here I can only assume it’s pretty serious.” Majima sighed “Look, I know we haven’t spoke that much, but I can see something more happening here. I trust you’ll figure it out sooner rather than later. What you do from here is your call. Good luck.”

\-------------  
The next morning Sesshomaru and Rin awoke to the sounds of someone entering their hotel room. Sesshomaru jumped to his feet only to find Majima, disguised as a bellhop, bringing in a dining cart. “I thought we could eat breakfast” the one-eyed man began “while we discuss the situation with Shocker.”

\------------  
Sesshomaru stood outside the Millennium Tower, the place Shocker had apparently set up shop. Majima had told him that near the top are a series of offices which are closed off. A commander was apparently hiding up there, and most of those working in the tower were now Shocker or Shocker-aligned. Walking through the front doors, Sesshomaru readied his belt “Henshin!”

Deciding to make quick work of this he immediately activated both is gaia memory and lockseed. “Inu!” “Blood Orange Arms: Ja no Michi on Stage!” The armour and helmet of the blood orange form appearing over his Inu form. He watched as businessmen all around him transformed into skeleton suited figures with a red pauldron and large belt with a buckle depicting a three headed eagle. He chuckled to himself, this was going to be fun.

Making his was up the tower, Sesshomaru found that the Shocker combatmen fell quickly before his claws and swords. He found the fact that they exploded so easily quite entertaining. As he began reaching the upper floors he found new opposition in the form of grey armoured mechanical humanoids, the three headed eagle on their chests. They wielded battle rifles with bayonets but those were arly more damaging than the kukris of the combatmen, nor were these robots much more durable. The variety was welcome though.

Entering a large loft he was greeted by a large force of the robots led by what appeared to be another rider. His armour was silver with blue and black gloves, black boots and armlets with neon green trim, a stripe of ocean blue armour ran up his chest with black pectoral armour that had blue trim, he wore matching black and blue pauldrons, his mouthplate was black with neon green and his face was a black screen lined in silver with a yellow visor which spelled out “aqua” in katakana and a pair of silver fins between them running atop his head. His belt appeared unfinished with electronic components exposed. It had a loading arm for a miridewatch plugged into place connected to a screen depicting his own helmet.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Sesshomaru asked, receiving no response “The silent type? Fine by me, I’ve had my fill of loudmouths” He drew his daidaimaru blade and musou saber, locking them together. His opponent merely gestured for his robots to attack. They swarmed Sesshomaru who began slicing them with both ends of his blade whilst the enemy rider circled the fray.

These particular robots seemed more organised, working together to get their hits in and evade Sesshomaru’s attacks. It was clear to him that the silent rider was directing them, which meant disabling him was the priority. Shoving the robots off of him using his weapon, Sesshomaru maneuvered to combat the enemy commander. As Sesshomaru closed in, he fired a salvo of energy shots from he musou saber. His enemy stepped out of their way with minimum effort. Taking swipes with his claw and sword, Sesshomaru found himself constantly evaded, the enemy rider making short, sudden movements always at the last possible second. With each evaded attack the Shocker rider countered with a punch or kick charged with watery energy.

Stumbling back, Sesshomaru was growing tired of being made a fool of by foes in this era. It seemed they always had something unexpected up their sleeve, as evidenced by is current foe’s apparent ability to predict his attacks. An enemy with that kind of capability was a dangerous one indeed. Thinking of his recent battles, a thought struck Sesshomaru. Majima was no fool, the entire gauntlet the yakuza put him through wasn’t just a proving of worth. No, he was teaching him. The method to defeat an opponent like this was to be unpredictable.

Sesshomaru removed both his gaia memory and lockseed, quickly replacing them with the advent deck Majima provided. He returned to his plain black base form only for the purple cobra armour of Ouja to form, creating purple and silver gauntlets, boots, a chestplate and forming a cobra-esque hood on his helmet. As soon as the cane formed in his hand, he drew a card from his deck and activated it. “Survive” his belt called out and his Ouja armour components became more ornate, silver replaced with gold and snake-like decorations appearing including the snake buckler on his left arm.

While he was not as fast or strong as in his Inu form, Sesshomaru felt something else. Something unexpected. Ducking a swing from his opponent, Sesshomaru jumped into the reflective glass windows of the skyscraper, before leaping out of another to strike his enemy. He repeated this a few times before he was once again evaded, but Sesshomaru managed to evade the counter in turn. Drawing another card, he slid it into the buckler “Sword Vent” it called out with a slight distortion. In his hand formed a tanto, like Majima’s. The only difference was this one bore a snake pattern instead of a flower one. He then replicated, to the best of his abilities, Majima’s erratic fighting style. It wasn’t a perfect strategy, but his attempts to fight like someone else seemed to fool whatever his enemy was using well enough.

As the battle continued, the two rider’s followed each other onto the roof of the Millenium Tower. By this point the enemy’s rider armour became damaged revealing more circuitry and the like beneath. Another machine, which would explain why even after all this damage it continued to fight just as well as the beginning. In a bid to end the fight, Sesshomaru drew another card and activate it. “Advent” his belt announced, a giant monstrous cobra exiting the reflective surface of the windows and slithering around up to the roof. The cobra and Sesshomaru attacking in unison, diverting the attention of their opponent.

The time came to end it, and he drew and activated another card “Final Vent!”. Leaping up, Sesshomaru absorbed a blast of venom from his ally and crashed down to deliver a series of venom-charged scissor kicks to his opponent, destroying the enemy rider in an explosion crackling with electricity. Any surviving robots deactivated upon their leader’s demise, and Sesshomaru cancelled his transformation as he strode towards the destroyed robo rider. He plucked the Aqua miridewatch from the wreckage, turning to walk away.

“Interesting” he heard an artificial voice behind him. Turning back around he found a hologram projecting from pile of machinery that was once a rider. It showed a smooth metallic “head” with no neck and a black half-circle visor.

“Hmph” Sesshomaru replied “hiding behind your minions, you must be one of Susanoo’s men.” he chuckled to himself.

“I am Big Machine, one of the founders of Shocker. And I have heard all about you, Sesshomaru.”

“Big Machine? What kind of name is that?”

“Do not mock me, I am one of the most advanced mechanoids in the universe. You may have destroyed a number of my proxies today, but should you bear my full attention you would not survive”

“I look forward to proving you wrong” Sesshomaru walked up and stomped the pile, destroying the projector before once again turning to leave.

\------------  
Kagome arrived home only to find a man in a red business suit sitting in her kitchen. He was discussing something with her grandfather. As she approached, the stranger turned to face her.

“Subarashii!” he exclaimed “You have returned, Ms.Higurashi”

“Um, hello.” she gave an awkward wave.

“I am Kousei Kougami” he stood up and began walking her way. Kagome could feel her heart sink as she watched his approach “I have a few matters I wish to discuss with you.”


End file.
